Pumpkin Soup

One or two people hesitantly asked about this whole project, in the sort of voice that said they were sure I’d already given it up, but that it seemed polite to check.

Actually, I hadn’t given it up at all. I just had Several Things Happen, including one heartbreaking, awful thing and one wonderful, miraculous thing (who is already helping glue some of those damaged bits back together with her mama’s help). But neither of those is the sort of thing I come here today to talk about.

I come today to talk about soup, cellar vegetables, and living off of farmers’ markets during the months they don’t exist.

Thanks to freezing and planning, I’m in good shape to make it through the winter without any supermarket veggies unless I just want something particular. However, in my stocking up, I got, perhaps, a little overenthusiastic on the squash. And acorn squash is well and good – the things last forever, and I can think of half a dozen different ways to cook them on any given night. But the pumpkin that was sitting on my shelf…well, I don’t usually use pumpkins for much besides pie.

But then, I made this soup. And squash/ gourd/ Cucurbita overstock or not, I wish I had more pumpkin, now. So, if you’ve got a lonely leftover still haunting your kitchen from holiday baking, might I suggest the following, decidedly-not-pie recipe?

Ingredients

• 1 pumpkin, about 5-6 inches in diameter all ways
• 1 T butter
• 1 onion, any sort (I used red, because it’s what I had on hand, but I think yellow or white would work nicely, too.)
• Garlic, to your taste (I used about 6 cloves, because I love the stuff)
• 1/2 -1 tsp. dried sage (rubbed would be my preference)
• 1/2 -1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1/2 – 1 tsp dried thyme (leaves, not ground)
• 1/2 -1 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2/ tsp salt
• 1 T lemon juice (adjust according to your taste, 1 T is nice and tangy)
• 1 c. milk

Those ingredients yielded me enough for two dinners, so adjust accordingly. It would be incredibly easy to double and makes rather nice leftovers, even for someone with a bit of an attitude about leftovers that can’t be seriously altered or re-purposed.

The herb imprecision is because I wanted mine very savory – full of all kinds of flavors. A better-adjusted recipe might tend more towards the 1/2 tsp measures, but sometimes I don’t want well-balanced – I just want flavors. I’d also suggest marjoram with relatively few reservations; I just happened to be out at that moment.

What to Do

A note: you’ll almost certainly want either a food mill (my preference), a food processor, or at least a blender for this recipe. How long the recipe takes depends on the length of time your pumpkin needs to bake; this recipe took me only about half an hour from start to finish, but the pumpkin was being very cooperative.

1. Turn the oven to 375 F.
2. Cut your pumpkin(s) in half and scrape out the seeds.
3. Fill a baking dish large enough to hold both pumpkin halves, face down, with about 1/2 -3/4 in. lukewarm water. Put the pumpkin face down in the dish; put the dish in the oven. The pumpkins will bake for anywhere from 20-40 minutes, depending on how thick the flesh is. There’s an outside chance they could take up to an hour, but mine were quite done in just over 20 minutes.
4. While the pumpkin is cooking, get the other ingredients together. First, chop the onion.
5. Heat the butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Once the butter melts, toss in the onion.
6. Peel your garlic cloves – I didn’t chop mine at all, but to each his or her own. Into the saucepan with them!
7. Measure and pitch in the herbs, pepper, and salt as the onions and garlic cook. You want to let the onions cook in the butter until they’re nice and soft, but not browned. This should take about five to ten minutes from when they first go into the butter.
8. Once the onion is soft, pour in the lemon juice, stir, and then pour in the milk. Turn the heat down a notch or two to medium-low or just above, and let the whole thing cook for about ten minutes.
9. At this point, your next step depends on whether your pumpkin is done – which you should be able to tell by poking it with a fork, not unlike checking a potato. Poke down near the cut side, as the top may cook a bit quicker.
10. If your pumpkin is not done, return the pan to the oven and continue to check every five to ten minutes, depending on how close you think you are. Turn the heat under the saucepan to very low. Continue to step 11 when appropriate.
11. If your pumpkin is done, pull it out of the oven. Careful with the pan full of water! Use tongs or a large fork to transfer the pumpkin halves to a work area, like a cutting board.
12. Use a spoon to scoop out the cooked pumpkin – it should come away from the outer shell pretty easily. You can drop the scooped flesh straight into the saucepan of other ingredients.
13. Cook everything, all together, over medium-low heat for five to ten minutes.
    

    It’s a bit late in the post for the first picture, don’t you think? I do. But I didn’t think you really needed or wanted a picture of a sliced onion…

14. How to handle this step depends on what medium you’re using to mush everything into one consistency (appetizing description, non?) and how much you hate dishes. If you’re using a blender or food processor, you should be able to just pour the whole thing in – if you’ve doubled the recipe, you may need to work in batches – and process everything on a medium speed. If you’re using the food mill…well, you could pour from the pan and then mill over a bowl. Or pour into a bowl, and then into the mill, and then use the mill over the pan. But if you’re like me, you’ll realize that you already have to wash that baking dish you pulled the pumpkin from. So – I poured everything into the baking dish, then set the food mill over the dish (I used my finest grate), and then poured from the baking dish into the mill, milling back into the sauce pan.
15. Once your ingredients are all nicely creamed together, I suggest letting the soup heat for just a few more minutes – I lasted about three before I decided it was dinner time.
    

    My food mill is one of my favorite acquisitions – look at that soup! Also, I think that this pumpkin soup is the prettiest shade of creamy yellow I’ve yet produced from a soup of any sort.

16. Enjoy!
    

    “Who would not give all else for two p
    ennyworth only of beautiful Soup?”
    to quote the Mock Turtle, who is of course already reciting, so I suppose Lewis Carroll? Charles Lutwidge Dodgson?

The soup should be tangy and savory and warm. I had it with fresh baked pita one night and wheat toast another. Honestly, the soup wants croutons, but that wasn’t what I wanted. However you serve it though…it’s pumpkin, and not pie, and that’s something all on its own.