Pumpkin Soup

When I bought the beets that I wrote about in my last post I had kids in tow they wanted something from the farmer's market too. I offered them Beets, Parsnips, Rutabagas, Squash, Brussels Sprouts, home made Pickles... Oddly they weren't interested in any of those, go figure, what they did want was small Pumpkins and some Mums for their mom, who would need a gift because she would miss them so much while we were out with me for an hour. The pumpkins were too small and purchased too early to be Jack o Lanterns. So I told the kids that I would buy them but I was going to cook them in a week or so. Nobody minded, right after they showed them to their mom the pumpkins sat on the kitchen table ignored until I got to them yesterday. It is hard to describe the size of the Pumpkin that I used, about 1/2 the size of a basket ball, it was from the "Small Pumpkin" bin at the market.

I make pumpkin soup out of one of them the ingredients are:

2 Carrots peeled and coarsely chopped

2 Celery ribs coarsely chopped

1 medium onion chopped
1/2 stick butter

1 small Pumpkin trimmed, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

5 cups of Chicken Broth

6 whole Cloves

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

3/4 cup Half and Half

Start by melting the butter in a 2 quart saucepan then softening the Carrots, Celery and Onions. I takes about 10 minutes then add the rest of the ingredients except for the Half and Half. Cook this covered until all of the ingredients are soft about 45 minutes in this case. You should stir fairly often to check it and get an idea how long it will take. When the pumpkin is soft dig around a little bit and try to pull the cloves out, if you miss any they will end up being a little stick in someones soup. Then put the mixture to the blender about 1/3 at a time then poor back into the saucepan. Once it is blended smooth add the 3/4 cup of half and half and mix, you may want to add a little bit of honey to sweeten it up here taste it and decide for yourself.

This bowl is garnished with a little Roasted Red Pepper Cream to add color, I will talk about roasting peppers later but this is one Red Bell Pepper roasted and peeled then mixed with enough half and half to puree, very simple. I carefully added it with a teaspoon just before I served.

The soup is a great start to a fall meal simple, really beautiful and so creamy. Really it is like eating liquid silk it is so smooth.