Pumpkin soup cook book picture! (America Cooks: A Culinary Journey from Coast to Coast)

Just to be absolutely clear,  this picture is from my cook book!  I know, it’s terrible that I couldn’t put together something so lovely myself.  I’m lucky, and happy, that my soup isn’t splattered all over the bowl which I present to you as my soup!

Pumpkin Soup!

Hmm, I need to work a bit on my presentation…  As I mentioned in my last post, I was on a mission to make some pumpkin soup.  It’s probably the easiest soup to make, with very basic ingredients.  For me, it’s special to make because I use a cookbook which my mom gave to me years ago.  I was living in Zurich at the time, and I think she just wanted to make sure I remembered my roots.   It’s a beautiful book!

My cook book: America Cooks: A Culinary Journey from Coast to Coast

Here’s the recipe:

Cream of Pumpkin Soup

4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 pumpkin, 4 – 5 lbs
nutmeg
salt & pepper
1 cup heavy cream

Method

Wash and peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds and cut the flesh into cubes with a sharp knife. Set aside. Melt the butter in a large pot and add the onion. Sweat the onion slowly until it is fairly tender. Add the pumpkin chunks and 1 quart of cold water. Season with salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Simmer for 20 minutes. Puree the pumpkin mixture in small batches, adding cream to each small batch. Return the soup to the rinsed out pot and reheat gently. Serve hot.  From New England Culinary Institute, Montpelier, VT.

I confess that I cheat. I bake the pumpkin first.  I don’t like cutting it into cubes so I just cut it in half, place it cut side down with 1/4 inch of water into a pan, and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees F (176 degrees C) until soft.  Then I scoop it out and give it a quick whirl with a hand held blender.  I tend to use broth instead of water, too.    🙂

My pumpkins were more yellow than orange, but they tasted exactly like pumpkins should!  Pumpkin soup is a love it or hate it flavor.  I love it, especially with cream.  Oh! and I used my own onions!  Of course I forgot to take a picture of them.  5 million pictures of pumpkins and none of onions … go figure.

Fresh pumpkin puree.

My marbled colored cooking pumpkins.

That should really be the end of my pumpkin posts.  (Should I promise that?)  I have to add just a few more photos – not of pumpkins (phew, right?).  The other day  I was intrigued with the farmer harvesting his potatoes.  What a production!  I can just imagine what he thought of me hanging out of the upstairs bedroom window with my camera!

Harvesting potatoes.

Harvesting potatoes (two fields away from me).

A truck load of spuds!

I couldn’t have a post without a picture of a flower, so here’s the last photo:

Zephirine Drouhin (1868) Roses at the front gate in November.

Pumpkin soup, anyone?

Dana