Pumpkin Soup

by Jennifer

This is essentially the same recipe as Winter Squash Stew, but I have updated it a little bit to reflect our taste preferences and my first experience using a sugar pie pumpkin.

I expected the small pumpkin to be easy to carve into pieces, but it wasn’t at all–it was difficult to even split it in half! I decided to steam the pumpkin in large pieces in a steamer basket over boiling water to soften it before trying to peel it, and that did the trick. After about 10 minutes of steaming, I was able to scoop the flesh from the outer peel and add it into the pot with the other ingredients.

I thought about swapping in cinnamon and nutmeg instead of cumin, but after a week of experimenting with pumpkin muffin recipes (the final version will be in my October email newsletter–subscribe now!) I decided that a slightly different pumpkin flavor would be welcome. And it was delicious!

Ingredients:

  • 1 sugar pie pumpkin, seeded, peeled, and cut into chunks
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • approx. 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 tsp. cumin

Directions:

  1. Sauté finely minced onion and minced garlic in a tsp. of olive oil.
  2. Place pumpkin in a pot and fill with stock until just covered, then add cumin, garlic, and onion.
  3. Boil until tender (if pumpkin is pre-softened, just simmer all together for 5 minutes or so).
  4. Move chunks of pumpkin, onion, and garlic to blender, along with some, but not all, of the liquid (save the rest).
  5. Blend in blender until smooth, adding more of the cooking liquid to reach desired consistency.
  6. If you didn’t use it all, discard remaining cooking liquid.
  7. Return blended mixture to the pot to heat through.
  8. Serve with cilantro, parsley, pumpkin seeds, and/or grated parmesan cheese on top.

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2 comments

1 Gretchen { 10.04.10 at 3:23 pm }

Do you have a vegetable stock recipe you like? Or do you just buy stock and are ready to tell me to be quiet and buy stock like everyone else? I’m not looking for complicated, just control over ingredients.

2 Jennifer { 10.04.10 at 3:39 pm }

Hi Gretchen! Honestly, usually I buy low-sodium organic broth from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods and keep some on hand because it’s so easy, but one of my many kitchen goals is to get into the habit of making vegetable stock occasionally and keeping it on hand for cooking and for adding to frozen dishes when reheating. Freezing it in ice cube trays and then adding one cube to a frozen casserole or other leftovers when reheating works wonders!

Here’s a recipe I have tried once and intend to use again, minus the 1 bunch parsley it originally called for. I have also heard I could use “leftovers” like carrot tops and scraps of onions and intend to try it that way as well. Let me know how it turns out for you!

–Preheat oven to 400 degrees
–Peel, wash, and cut veggies into chunks and spread onto cookie sheet. Suggested veggies are 1 onion, 1 parnsip, 1 carrot, 5 garlic cloves, 4 mushrooms.
–Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
–Roast in oven for 45 minutes, turning occasionally until everything is a little brown.
–Remove from oven, place in large pot with 10 cups of water.
–Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for at least one hour. It will reduce to become more of a concentrate.
–Strain and use/save!