OUR RECIPE FOR PUMPKIN SOUP
from The Soup Bible by Debra Mayhew
from The Soup Bible by Debra Mayhew
1 T. Olive Oil
2 T. butter
1 lg. onion, sliced
1 t. salt
6 c. roasted pumpkin, peeled and cut in chunks
3 c. sliced potatoes
2 ½ c. vegetable or chicken stock
pinch of nutmeg
2 t. dried tarragon
2 ½ c. milk
2 t. lemon juice
Heat the oil & butter in a pot, then add the onion and salt and fry over med. low heat until soft but not brown. Add potatoes, cover and cook over med low heat for 10 min. Stir in stock, seasonings and pumpkin, bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 min. Puree with a hand blender, then add milk, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
I followed the recipe through cooking the potatoes. The Sugar Baby pumpkin I roasted turned out to have exactly 6 c. of chunks! The ingredients list made me think it would be a fairly thick soup, so I used peeled Yukon Gold potatoes since they’re a little moister than russets and their yellow color would go nicely with pumpkin. I have a big herb garden, and since the weather reports say we could have our first freeze in a couple of days why not use fresh herbs while I can. So, instead of nutmeg and tarragon I used a heaping tablespoon each of chopped marjoram and lemon thyme. Smelled great! It looked like a lot of vegetables in the pot and I hate having open containers of chicken broth in the refrigerator so I used all the broth in the can—4 cups—but then used just 2 cups of milk. It looked pretty with the little flecks of green herbs but tasted rather bland, so I added the juice of a whole lemon, Still not enough taste for me, so in went a teaspoon of hot smoked Spanish paprika. I’d roasted the pumpkin’s seeds along with the pumpkin and sprinkled some on the bowl right before I ate. Delicious and just the right consistency!
CASSIE'S VERSION
My sugar pumpkin was too small! I only had four cups of squash, so I intended to halve the recipe and just have a more squashy soup. But then I added in 3 cups of potatoes anyway, because I forgot, so I decided to make it a less squashy soup and returned all the other ingredients to their original quantities. I did not peel my Yukon Gold potatoes, as I thought that the potato peels might pump up the color a bit. Also, my peeler was in the dishwasher and I am perhaps a bit lazy when it comes to such details. Unlike my mother, I do not have either warm temperatures or a garden, both of which are necessary for growing ample amounts of herbs as she does. So I stuck to the tarragon and nutmeg, which I think actually served me well. I added several generous shakes of cayenne, which I think is a good chile to use if you want to impart heat but don't want to tamper much with the overall flavor. I only had skim milk so I substituted some heavy cream in for part of the liquid. And I used my best chicken bouillon instead of the cheap Knorr squares that I typically have on hand.
I tasted the soup and thought it was going to be really bland - and then I added the lemon juice and all was saved! I considered adding more than was called for, but am glad I didn't as it ended up being the perfect amount. Since I ate all of my roasted pumpkin seeds as I was making the soup, I had none left for garnish - though I had considered that as an option. Instead I sprinkled the finished product with the "green onions" from my vegetable "garden" (really just a little box), which I had just put away for the winter. These onions look like rather limpid chives - they did not thrive outside, but they tasted pretty good atop my soup. The best part about this recipe was that it wasn't a typical squash soup - no sweetness, and it wasn't overly thick. I had another serving for lunch at school, sipped out of my Thermos while reading about the mess of a man that was Andrew Jackson. Ironic that I consumed a lunch based on New World foods - squash and potatoes - while reading about the Indian Removal Act.
No soup for Andrew Jackson!
CASSIE'S VERSION
My sugar pumpkin was too small! I only had four cups of squash, so I intended to halve the recipe and just have a more squashy soup. But then I added in 3 cups of potatoes anyway, because I forgot, so I decided to make it a less squashy soup and returned all the other ingredients to their original quantities. I did not peel my Yukon Gold potatoes, as I thought that the potato peels might pump up the color a bit. Also, my peeler was in the dishwasher and I am perhaps a bit lazy when it comes to such details. Unlike my mother, I do not have either warm temperatures or a garden, both of which are necessary for growing ample amounts of herbs as she does. So I stuck to the tarragon and nutmeg, which I think actually served me well. I added several generous shakes of cayenne, which I think is a good chile to use if you want to impart heat but don't want to tamper much with the overall flavor. I only had skim milk so I substituted some heavy cream in for part of the liquid. And I used my best chicken bouillon instead of the cheap Knorr squares that I typically have on hand.
I tasted the soup and thought it was going to be really bland - and then I added the lemon juice and all was saved! I considered adding more than was called for, but am glad I didn't as it ended up being the perfect amount. Since I ate all of my roasted pumpkin seeds as I was making the soup, I had none left for garnish - though I had considered that as an option. Instead I sprinkled the finished product with the "green onions" from my vegetable "garden" (really just a little box), which I had just put away for the winter. These onions look like rather limpid chives - they did not thrive outside, but they tasted pretty good atop my soup. The best part about this recipe was that it wasn't a typical squash soup - no sweetness, and it wasn't overly thick. I had another serving for lunch at school, sipped out of my Thermos while reading about the mess of a man that was Andrew Jackson. Ironic that I consumed a lunch based on New World foods - squash and potatoes - while reading about the Indian Removal Act.
No soup for Andrew Jackson!
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