Cook It :: Pumpkin Soup

In honor of the book going off to print, I thought I'd share one of the recipes from the book.  It was a gorgeous shoot (if I say so myself) at my in-law's barn.  The main course was a pumpkin soup that I made with my own sugar pumpkins.  If you've ever thought about growing anything - pumpkins are the easiest.  The best way is to take a pumpkin that you really like this year and drop about 1/4 of it in the ground - pulp, seeds, the whole enchilada.  Next year when the pumpkins come up, put a handful of woodchips or something else dry under the pumpkins as they ripen.  That way they won't get a funny side.

For now, you can grab a few sugar pumpkins at the grocery store and make this soup.  It's perfect right now.

Pumpkin Soup

3 ½ lb Sugar Pumpkin

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

8 cups homemade chicken stock

2 large sprigs of sage

1 cup heavy cream

2 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 400.  Cut the pumpkin in half and clean out the seeds and guts.  Rinse and reserve seeds for roasting later.  Place pumpkin halves on a cookie sheet and one tablespoon of butter in each half.  Roast 20-30 minutes until fork tender.

Remove pumpkin from oven and let cool.  In a large stock pot heat remaining butter and oil over medium heat, pour any remaining butter from the pumpkins into the pan.  Cook the onions and garlic in the oil and butter until soft and translucent – about 15 minutes.  While onions are cooking, cut pumpkin into one-inch cubes.  Add pumpkin, sage, and chicken stock to the pan and bring to a boil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Reduce heat and simmer for one hour.  Remove sage leaves and blend soup with an immersion blender (a.k.a. hand held stick blender) until smooth.  In a small bowl whisk together cream and egg yolks.  Add ½ cup of warm soup to the egg mixture and whisk in quickly.  Return egg-soup mixture to stock pot and continue to simmer 10 minutes until soup is slightly thickened.  Serve hot with a sprig of fresh sage.  

For the rest of the images and the recipes that complete the party, pick up a copy of my book December 1st!