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Friday 26 October 2012

pumpkin cauldron soup...


Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! the old days recalling, 
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling! 
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin, 
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!


We have a lot to thank the Americans for over here on the our little Island. You could say we owe them. They have taken our drunken St Patricks day ritual to heart, they send tourists over here in droves, and without them there would be nothing on the telly. Best of all they have given us the pumpkin, God bless America.


Ingredients
 1 pumpkin, about 20cm diameter
 25g butter
 1 onion, sliced
 1 garlic clove, crushed
 freshly grated nutmeg
 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
 1 litre hot chicken stock
 3 tablespoons cream
 about 100g emmenthal or other melting cheese
some chives to garnish

Method
Heat the oven to 190ºC (170ºC fan oven) gas mark 5. Slice off the top of the pumpkin to make a lid and set aside. Scrape out the fibrous strands and seeds. Put the pumpkin in a lightly oiled, deep roasting dish.
Cut away the flesh inside, leaving walls thick enough to hold soup. (an ice-cream scoop works well for this task) Chop the flesh.
Heat the butter in a pan and gently fry the onion for 10 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the nutmeg, sage and reserved pumpkin flesh.
Put the mixture in the shell and pour in the stock. Season and cover with the lid. Cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour till the pumpkin is tender but still holds its shape. Stir in the cream; garnish with chives and extra cheese.

Carefully remove from the oven and bring the pumpkin to the table. Ladle the soup into bowls to serve.


13 comments:

  1. Such beautiful pictures Amee! My only issue with pumpkins is that they are normally so flavourless but I think the more we get over here, the more varieties there are and the better they taste!

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  2. Looks amazing and its such a great way to serve it :)

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  3. I have to say that pumpkins are brilliant. I have made this soup myself and will be making more today with my home grown festival squash. They are packed full of flavour and taste delicious roasted. Their flavour is so fudgy and rich. Of course my photos would never look like yours but still I love this pumpkin season, thanks to the USA I agree!

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  4. It looks amazing! I love squash-based soups, but I have trouble finding pumpkins here (outside of the Whole Foods), but I think this one would be worth a pumpkin hunt!

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  5. This looks like heaven. You get the pumpkin soup and then you can dig away at the cooked pumpkin when you are done!

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  6. O this looks totally delicious!! I am actually about to start making pumpkin soup today... And this would definitely be a great entry for the October challenge!

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  7. Yum! Love the pumpkins...might make a slew of goodies today with pumpkins ....because the kids are underfoot and want 'Halloween' stuff xx

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  8. Yumbo scrumbo! This looks amazing. Such a cute way to serve the soup. Also, I absolutely agree about being thankful for pumpkins - turnips are way less fun.

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  9. Yes indeed, you have much to be indebted to us Yanks for. ;) This looks stunning!

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  10. Looks heartsome and sounds yummie. I'm going to try this recipe tomorrow.

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  11. I love the way beautiful way the pumpkin shrunk in on itself. Such lovely photographs.

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  12. This looks beautiful! I'm kind of wishing I could have a bowl, I mean pumpkin full of this soup now. And I bet there isn't a pumpkin left in the shops at this stage, too full of tins of roses now. bah humbug.

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