Mise en Place Joumou For the Haitian Epis:

• Chop 1 small onion into ½-inch cubes
• Wash and chop ½ green bell pepper into ½-inch cubes
• Chop 6 scallions, finely
• Mince 6 cloves of garlic (chop into very small pieces)
• Remove thyme leaves by placing your fingers at the top of the stem and firmly push/slide the leaves down. Repeat for all 6 sprigs of thyme. Chop the leaves.
• Chop parsley and measure out ¼ cup
• Measure out ¼ cup olive oil
• Measure out 2 t cayenne pepper

Mise en Place For the Haitian Epis:

• Wash the carrots, celery, leek, russet potato, kabocha squash
• Peel and slice 2 carrots into ½ inch pieces
• Trim and dice 1 small leek into ½ inch cubes
• Dice 1 small onion in to ½ inch cubes
• Cut the celery into ¼ inch slices
• Peel and cube 1 russet potato into 1 inch pieces
• Core and shred ½ of a small green cabbage
• Cut kabocha squash into 1 inch pieces

Blend the Haitian Epis

• In a blender, add ½ cup chopped onion, green bell pepper, and scallions, the minced garlic, chopped thyme leaves, parsley, the olive oil, and the cayenne pepper. Blend until smooth.

Marinate the beef

• In a bowl, add the beef stew meat and marinate with 2 T of the Haitian Epis. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1-4 hours or overnight.

Cook the beef

• Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Once oil is heated, add marinated beef and cook, turning as needed, until browned, about 8 minutes. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is tender.

Cook the Vegetables

• Add sliced carrots, celery, diced leeks, onion, cubed potatoes, and shredded cabbage into the same pot with the beef. Slightly cover and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5-10 minutes.

Cook the squash

• In a separate saucepan, over high heat, bring 2 cups of water and kabocha squash to a boil. Once the water is boiling, cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook the squash until fork-tender, about 10 minutes.

Puree the squash

• Drain the cooked squash, reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid, and transfer both squash and liquid to a blender. Puree until smooth and set aside.

Bring it all together

• Add squash puree to the pot with vegetables and beef. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soup is slightly thick, about 20 minutes more on medium low heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve and enjoy!