Tags

, ,

IMG_8842

It’s unseasonably cold here right now which means I have to wear long sleeved shirts. And cold makes me think of soup. And soup makes me think of … well cold weather. And cold weather makes me think of pumpkins. Pumpkins and the fact that we live somewhere where there are like two days out of the year when it can actually be said that it’s cold. And before I get into some vortex of circular logic I’m going to cut this line of thought short.

Last May we planted pumpkins which we harvested in late October. We had a couple of leftover pumpkins and one of them has been staring at me from the window for a couple of months now. That, combined with not wanting to go to the store made for an ideal time to try this out.

Equipment:

  • Big pot (4+ quarts)
  • Chef’s knife
  • Measuring spoons
  • Chef’s knife
  • Oven
  • Half sheet pan
  • Foil
  • Food processor
  • Big spoon

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium pumpkin
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
  • Medium yellow onion
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon Large grained sea salt (NOTE: If you use regular sized salt like table salt you should switch to 1/2 teaspoon of salt)
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1 can coconut milk

Time: about 2 hours

Serves: 4

Process:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325º
  2. Cut pumpkin in half and remove the seeds (reserve these for roasting!)
  3. Put the pumpkin halves on the half sheet pan with the open parts facing the ceiling and cover them with foil
  4. Put them in the oven for about an hour
  5. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and uncover it
  6. Roughly chop the onion
  7. Using a big spoon, scoop the pulp out of the pumpkin leaving the skin and pop it into the food processor
  8. Give the pumpkin about a half dozen pulses until it’s mush. (Incidentally, this is what you would get in a can of pumpkin puree and you can eliminate everything up to now except chopping the onion and go with a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree if you want to be lazy or if you want to cut this down to an hour long process)
  9. Put the pot on the stove over medium high heat and throw the butter in
  10. When it’s hot, add the onion and stir it until they are translucent
  11. Add salt, curry powder, and coriander and stir for about 30 seconds until the mixture becomes fragrant
  12. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally (about 5-10 minutes)
  13. Turn down the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the pumpkin and the coconut milk and cook for another 5 minutes or so
  14. In two batches, pour the soup into the food processor and liquify all of the little onion bits pouring it back into the pot. You could also use a blender for this but then you would have to clean another thing.
  15. Reheat the soup and then serve. You could add a dollop of sour cream to make it look pretty.