Fall is upon us and any day now you will find yourself surrounded by that delicious symbol of fall, the pumpkin. Forget about pumpkin spice lattes, they aren’t nearly as tasty as cooking with the real thing. This soup recipe makes one of the best soups for fall, and bonus – you can make it with butternut squash as well.
The basic premise of this recipe is to use fresh, whole pumpkin, that you cut into slices to roast in the oven and then purée. It’s the same way you would roast chunks or slices of squash.
The prep time is about 30 minutes and cooking time about an hour and 15 minutes. Five cups (about 22 ounces or about 1.4 lbs) of pumpkin flesh will make about 8 servings. If you have leftover pumpkin or squash, you can roast it and eat it with butter or olive oil and salt, or freeze it for a future side dish.
Ingredients
1⁄2 medium to large pumpkin (you need about 5 cups, 22 oz, or 1.4 lbs pumpkin flesh)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to taste
4 pinches of sea salt, plus more to taste
2 tablespoon butter or ghee
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
2 cups (16 oz) poultry or chicken stock
1 teaspoon thyme, fresh or dried
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 365 ̊F (185 ̊C). Cut the half pumpkin in half again. Drizzle the olive oil over the pumpkin slices and sprinkle them with a pinch of salt. Roast in an oven-safe dish for 50 to 60 minutes or until soft.
Allow to cool. Peel off the skin with a paring knife and cut the pumpkin flesh into chunks. (Now you have roasted pumpkin, and you could stop here. You could add herbes de Provence, and just eat that!
Heat the butter in a pan and sauté the shallots and garlic with salt until the shallots become translucent.
Combine the ginger, poultry stock, and thyme with the roasted pumpkin chunks, shallots, and garlic in batches in a blender. For a thinner consistency, add 1⁄2 cup (4oz) more stock. Cook in a large pot, partially covered, for 15 minutes on low.
Drizzle the pumpkin purée with cream or olive oil (or both!), if desired. You may also want to top the soup with ground pepper, fresh herbs (such as thyme), cinnamon, nutmeg, bacon bits, and/or coarse or flake salt. Serve alongside zucchini (or pumpkin) fritters or as a first course before a roast or ribs.
Wine Tip: Pair this soup with a buttery oak-aged Chardonnay from Burgundy or a Viognier from the Rhône Valley with notes of thyme.
