Also part of our Farm to Table menu I was super excited to make this soup. About a year ago after visiting my sister in Washington and taking a cooking class at her apartment complex I came home with an AMAZING Roasted Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion soup that my friends still talk about today (recipe to come soon). At the same time I made a remake of Carbone’s Fire Roasted Basil Tomato Soup and it was drool worthy. Despite being memorably delicious both soups were a ton of work to make, I find soup to be the most unfulfilling of things to cook. Maybe I’m doing them wrong. They take a lot of prep work, don’t make very much and go down very fast. This soup wasn’t very different. I suppose it had something to do with the fact that mostly everything came from the garden and still had to be prepared, which definitely takes a bit of elbow grease and dedication.
The most time consuming part that I DID NOT factor into soup making time was creating the pumpkin puree. Excited as I was to be utilizing Dudley our poor pumpkin plant I didn’t realize how time consuming making homemade puree is. I’m sure it’s a piece of cake to the pumpkin cooking queens out there but I’m a fresh newbie whose only action with pumpkins is to mercilessly stab them AKA pumpkin carving.
Inspiration here
Notes from the Farmer
Throughout the fall both pumpkins and carrots are easily harvestable and not as perishable as your typical vegetable. We also had very good luck freezing this soup once it was made. So while Jenny bemoans how much work it is to make this soup, maybe next time make as much as you can at once and freeze a whole bunch. Then you’ll have soup for the winter.
To Create the Pumpkin Puree:
Set the oven to 350
Harvest the pumpkin (duh)
Cut said pumpkin in half
Then, if you’re planning on keeping the seeds to roast scoop out the insides with a spoon and comb through them setting the seeds aside.
Then place the pumpkin in a deeper pan, like a roasting pan without the top grill
Add a cup of water and place the two halves of the pumpkin face down in the water skin up and put them in the oven, bake for an hour
Yes, AN HOUR
While the pumpkin is being coaxed into separating itself from its yummy flesh you can start preparing your soup ingredients.
Once it’s done, take it out, wait a good while (like half an hour – if the soup ingredients are prepared already do some yoga to relax after all that prep) until its cool enough to handle and using a spoon scrape the flesh from the skin (eesh, very murdery…but fits with the Halloween theme) into a bowl.
Give it a quick strain and you’re all set!
Now for the soup ingredients:
2 Tbs. Coconut Oil
1 large Onion
1 Cup Organic Pumpkin Puree (lovingly made by you)
1 Clove of Garlic
1 Tbs. Paprika
2 foot long Chives equaling to ¼ of a cup
4 Cups of Broth (homemade broth recipe here)
2 large of Carrots about 5-6 inches long
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Throw the onions in the food processor and give them a quick pulse until diced then sauté for about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, paprika. Throw the garlic, chives and pumpkin in the in the food processor, pulse a couple times and add them to the onion mixture. Add the broth. Add the carrots to the food processor and pulse until diced and then add them to the pot. Simmer until carrots are tender, about 30 minutes. Allow mixture to cool slightly before pureeing in a food processor or high- speed blender. Serve immediately. You can garnish with parsley, roasted pumpkin seeds or yogurt.
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