It’s fall and there is a bite in the air, pumpkins and corn shocks decorate the porches. I love this season, after summer it’s a welcome change. As cooler weather sets in its time for soup!
My inspiration for this soup came from a trip to a local farm where they were selling small pumpkins. I picked one up not really knowing what I was going to do with it. I had thought a pie, but then I started getting a hankering for some soup. So, what to do, what to do, I worked through this recipe and have refined it a bit, but feel free to adjust to your tastes. The Turmeric helps keep the color bright and brings a unique taste to the pumpkin.
Start by slicing the pumpkin in half and cleaning it out. (preserve the mature seeds we’ll use those as a garnish)
1 Small Pumpkin – sliced and place face down on cookie sheet in half a cup of water, cooking 1 hour on 350. Wash the pumpkin seeds carefully place in a small bowl with just a dash of liquid smoke, sprinkle with Turmeric or with Chipotle or both then bake for –15 minutes till dry and crunchy. (Liquid smoke optional, but adds a nice flavor to the seeds)
In a separate sauté pan heat 2 tablespoons of butter, add two medium or a large shallot which has been peeled and sliced. Caramelize the shallots with a pinch of sugar (about 15 min at medium heat). Let it cool a bit then peel the pumpkin and place the meat into a blender. Add 2 cans of chicken broth, and the shallots to blender. Puree until smooth. Work this through a fine sieve into a 4 quart sauce pan. Add the nutmeg, white pepper, coriander, molasses, turmeric, salt and thyme to the sauce pan. Simmer for 10 minutes, add the cream if desired.
Harvest Soup
1 Small Pumpkin
2 cans chicken broth
Liquid Smoke (optional)
2 Tbs Butter
1 large shallot (caramelize)
2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
tsp white pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
1 Tbs Molasses
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp salt
tsp fresh minced thyme (don’t use ground it will make the soup grey green)
cup heavy cream
Garnish the soup with a cup of whipped heavy cream spiced with Chipotle and some of the roasted pumpkin seeds.
Ciao, Glenn and Glenn
