When Batsheva Levy Salzman was a child in Morocco and then in Israel, her mother would make pumpkin soup for Sukkot. As a child, she watched her mother cook and helped her. Later, when Batsheva married an American and moved to Boston, she began cooking Moroccan for her family and friends. “My American-Jewish family likes the pumpkin soup for Thanksgiving,” she said. And so does Caraways, a gourmet shop in Wayland, Massachusetts, where she lives. Word spread about her Moroccan cooking. At a fund-raiser for Temple Shir Tikvah in Wayland, ten people paid about $250,000 for a Moroccan feast of ten different hors d'oeuvres, baked fish, stuffed chicken, couscous, and dessert. “I cook exactly the way my mother taught me,” she said. “I cook with my eyes and not for the measurement.”

• 1 12-ounce can chick-peas
• 2 pounds pumpkin, or butternut or calabaza squash, peeled and cut in chunks
• 1 onion, peeled and quartered
• 1/2 pound stewing beef, cut into 2-inch chunks
• 8 cups water or to cover
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon or to taste
• 2 cups chicken soup
• 2 tablespoons sugar or to taste

1. Drain the chick-peas and peel off the outer skin.
2. In a soup pot mix the squash, chick-peas, onion and beef and cover with the water.
   Simmer, covered, for 2 hours or until the meat is soft enough to eat.
3. Add the cinnamon, chicken soup, and sugar. Blend, but do not puree, all the
   ingredients in a food processor. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Reheat and serve. If the soup is too thick, add more water when reheating.

Yield: 8 to 12 servings (M)