Awesome Pumpkin Soup!

Its a cold, rainy night sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving and you're wondering what to have for dinner.  How about something hot, spicy, creamy, baconey, scrumptious?  How about some curried pumpkin soup?  After all, you might have an uncarved pumpkin laying around somewhere, or you've been to the market and you see all these cans of pumpkin ment for pumpkin pie in the isles and it planted a seed (a pumpkin seed?) in your mind.  So I'm going to show you how to make a delicious pumpkin soup from scratch.  

   First of all, lets touch on for a minute, the history of the pumpkin.  Pumpkins are in the squash family and are in fact, winter squash.  They are planted in Spring and are harvested in the fall.  The arrival of pumpkins is a sure sign of changing weather, the colors of Fall and Halloween.  As far as is known, pumpkins originated in Mexico and pumpkin seeds have been carbon dated as far back as 5,000 BC.  Who knew that 7,000 years later we would be using them to carve funny faces, make pies and chuck them out of catapults? They also make a fabulous soup and the seeds can be roasted in butter, olive oil, spices and salt.  

   Now you don't need to use fresh pumpkins to make pumpkin soup, you can simply use canned pumpkin.  However, there is something rustic and satisfing to fire up the oven and roast fresh pumpkin. And the roasting gives it a toasty flavor that adds another dimension to the soup.  So here is how to do it.

                                                Curried Pumpkin Soup: 

1 medium pumpkin

1 can pumpkin 

4 cans low sodium chicken broth

5 slices bacon

2 teaspoons curry powder

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 yellow onion

1 large shallot

2 cloves garlic

salt and coarse ground pepper to taste

                                                           Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:

The seeds from medium pumpkin

1/4 stick of butter

drizzled olive oil

sprinkled curry powder and salt to taste

   Remove the seeds from a small to medium sized pumpkin and put aside.  Cut it half and split the one half into 8 chunks.  Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  I would recommend microwaving the chunks until somewhat soft.  Place on cookie sheet and into the oven.  If microwaved, bake for a hour or until tops brown.  Meanwhile chop the onion, shallot and garlic medium fine and put aside.  Remove the pumpkin from the oven and using a glove to hold them, scrape the meat into a large pot.  Turn heat to medium.

   Place pumpkin seeds on cookie sheet and slice butter on top, drizzle olive oil, and sprinkle salt and curry powder on top.  Place into oven and roast until brown.

   In a pan, cook the bacon until it begins to crisp and put aside.  Add the chopped onion, shallot and garlic and sauté in the bacon drippings.  When just brown, add to the pot of pumpkin.  Add 1 can of pureed pumpkin.  Add 4 strips of bacon, saving the last one to garnish the bowls.  Pour in 4 cans of low sodium chicken broth, add salt and pepper and stir.  At this point you either blend it in a blender, or using an immersion blender, or wand blender, puree the mixture until smooth.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  At the very end, pour 1/2 cup of heavy cream and stir, turning the heat down.  Turn heat off after 1 minute.  Do NOT boil the soup after adding the cream or it will curdle.  Ladle into bowls and top with roasted pumpkin seeds and crushed bacon, sprigs of Italian parsley or basil.  Serve with chunks of French bread or baguette and a crisp fruit forward wine like a Sauvignon Blanc.  Or if you prefer on a cold night, a nice mellow Merlot.  Recipe serves 10 or of course can be saved and enjoyed for a few nights or frozen for later.   

   Pumpkin soup is a delicious and satisifing crisp Autume night's dinner.  Enjoy!

Comments

[A Fan]

ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS VIDEO!!! Your sense of humor and positive attitude takes this to the next level. You need your own show! Really like your stuff. Keep up the good work!

[John]

Thank you so much! Its real good to get positive comments!