French Pumpkin Soup Baked And Served In The Shell Food

PUMPKIN SOUP SERVED IN INDIVIDUAL ROASTED PUMPKINS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare the small pumpkins as though you were making jackolanterns, cutting off and reserving top, scooping out seeds and reserving, but stopping short of carving the face. Set aside. Repeat preparation with the medium pumpkin, then cut it into wedges along its natural grooves. Peel each wedge with a sharp swivel peeler. Cut flesh into 2-inch chunks and set aside.
• In a small bowl combine ground spices with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle this mixture into pumpkin cavities, dividing evenly. Cut 1 tablespoon butter into bits and divide between pumpkins. Replace pumpkin tops and place pumpkins in a shallow roasting pan. Roast 30 to 40 minutes until tender when pierced with a knife but still intact. Remove from oven and set aside.
• While pumpkins are roasting, prepare the soup: Heat remaining butter along with olive oil over mediumhigh heat in large pot or Dutch oven until foamy. Add onions and remaining salt and pepper and cook 5 minutes until softened and begin to color. Add garlic and cook 1 minute to release flavor. Add diced potato, chunked pumpkin flesh and stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes until potatoes and pumpkin are completely soft. Pass soup through a food mill fitted with the fine blade into a clean pot. Whisk in cream, taste and adjust seasoning and set aside.
• Roasted pumpkins and soup should be done at about the same time. To serve, remove tops from pumpkins and use a melon baller to scoop balls of pumpkin flesh, leaving them in their respective pumpkins. Carefully ladle soup into each pumpkin, filling about 2/3 full. Replace pumpkin tops, place each pumpkin on a plate, and serve.

PUMPKIN SOUP SERVED IN A PUMPKIN (POTAGE AU POTIRON)

Steps:

• Cut off top of pumpkin at least 5 inches across, so that it can serve as a lid. Scoop out and discard all seeds and stringy material. Using a large sturdy spoon, scrape out 6 cups of pumpkin meat, taking care not to break through the shell. Set aside the pumpkin and its lid in a warm place.
• In a large soup pot over medium-low heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add onion and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add wine and simmer for 1 minute. Add turnips, carrot, potato, pumpkin meat and enough chicken stock or water to barely cover.
• Cover and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat remaining 6 tablespoons butter, and add bread slices, turning until lightly browned on both sides. Set aside half for garnish, and when soup has come to a boil, add remaining half to the soup.
• Gently simmer soup for 1 hour, stirring once or twice. The soup will be very thick; if it seems in danger of burning, reduce heat and stir in a small amount of broth or water.
• Add cream, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Using an immersion blender, purée the hot soup in the pot until very smooth. Alternatively, remove soup from heat and allow to cool until no longer steaming, then purée in a food processor or blender. Return soup to a clean pot and reheat gently.
• Pour hot soup into pumpkin. Serve from pumpkin, garnishing each serving with one or two reserved toasts.

ROASTED PUMPKIN SOUP

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Place the pumpkin cut side up on a parchment lined baking sheet. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Invert to the cut side down, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Place in the oven and roast until the skin is golden brown and the pumpkin is tender, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle, use a spoon to scoop the pumpkin flesh from its skin and set pumpkin aside until ready to use. Discard the skin.
• Set a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and, when hot, add the cinnamon and allspice and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the onions, carrots, celery, ginger and garlic to the pan and saute, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken stock and reserved pumpkin to the pan and bring the stock to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook the soup for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.
• Remove the soup from the heat and process with an immersion blender (*or in batches in a blender) until smooth. Season with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pinch of pepper. Add the cream to the soup and stir to combine.
• To serve, place 1 cup of the soup in each of 6 warmed soup bowls. Drizzle 2 teaspoons of the pumpkin seed oil in the bowl and garnish with a 2 or 3 fried sage leaves.

PUMPKIN SOUP (SERVED IN THE SHELL)

Steps:

• Slice off stem of pumpkin, 2-1/2 inches from the top, reserve, scrape out the seeds and membranes.
• Brush the inside with 1-1/2 tablespoons of melted butter.
• Top pumpkin with stem and bake in a shallow pan at 375 degree oven for 1-1/4 hours or until plup is tender. Let cool in pan.
• In a large heavy saucepan, cook onion in butter until soft. Add carrots, broth, 3 cups water andd bay leaf and simmer until carrots are tender. Discard bay leaf.
• Discard any liquid in the pumpkin and scoup out pulp leaving 1/4 inch thick shell.
• In a blender, puree pulp with carrot mixture in batches.
• Transfer the puree to a kettle and stir in cream and salt and pepper to taste.
• (You can prepare, to this point, 1 day ahead if desired, and chill in a baking dish.).
• Slice part of the sausage into 8 thin rounds. then slice the rest, quartered lengthwise and then sliced thin. In a heavy skillet, cook the sausage over moderate heat, stirring until light brown and drain on paper towel.
• Reserve the 8 sausage rounds, stir the other sausage pieces into the soup and stir soup over moderate heat, (thin with water if needed), until hot.
• Heat the shell, if needed, in 375 degree oven until warm and ladle soup into shell.
• Garnish with parsley and sausage rounds.
• Serve with breadsticks, or your favorite crusty bread.

FRENCH PUMPKIN SOUP

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until it begins to turn translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add the pumpkin, the potato, and the water; stir, and then season lightly with salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, covered, until the pumpkin is so soft that it comes apart, 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and purée the mixture in a food processor or with a wand mixer until smooth and uniformly blended.
• Taste for seasoning, and serve with the cheese alongside.