Eat for a week 33a: Roasted Pumpkin Soup

This recipe takes some time, but is really worth it. The result is a lightly curried pumpkin soup. The recipe as published here makes a HUGE amount of soup - around 9 quarts or so. I would suggest cutting the recipe in half. For a stronger curry flavor, halve the amounts for everything but the spices. Grocery bill for this was just over $11.

INGREDIENTS:

10 lb. carving pumpkin (yes, like the ones you'd use for a jack-o-lantern)
vegetable oil (not much, maybe 2 or 3 Tbsps)
2 tbsps bacon drippings *
one onion, chopped
6-7 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 Tbsps curry powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tsp smoked paprika **
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg **
1 tsp cider vinegar (if necessary)
4-6 C water
1/2 lb. baby carrots
2-3 bay leaves
2 tsp dry marjoram leaves **
pinch of saffron **
1 pint half-and-half
salt & pepper to taste

HOW TO:

To prepare the pumpkin - this can be done a couple of days in advance and stored in the fridge:

Preheat oven to 375°
Throw the pumpkin at the ground to crack it, then finish cutting it in half with your knife.
Scoop out seeds and strings and set the guts aside. I'll show you what to do with these in episode 33b.
Rub cut edges with oil and place cut-side down on a rimmed baking sheet.
Place in the oven and bake 45 minutes to an hour, until a paring knife can be easily inserted and withdrawn.
Allow pumpkin halves to cool until you can handle them without burning yourself, then separate the flesh from the skin. (Discard the skin, keep the flesh and any juices.)

For the soup itself:

Heat bacon drippings in a large stock pot over medium heat.
Add onion and garlic with a little salt and cook 3-4 minutes.
Add curry powder, cumin, ginger, cayenne, paprika, and nutmeg and cook for 1-2 minutes.
If the spices start to stick to the bottom of the pot too much, add vinegar to un-stick them.
Add pumpkin flesh, carrots, water, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Add bay leaves, marjoram, and saffron.
Increase heat and allow soup to boil, then lower heat, cover the pot, and allow to simmer for about half an hour.
Remove bay leaves and blend the soup using an immersion blender (preferred method).
Turn off heat and mix in the half-and-half. Enjoy!

I like to garnish this with some greek yogurt and toasted pumpkin seeds. I'll show you my recipe for the pumpkin seeds in episode 33b (coming soon).


Music for this episode is Yellow by The Hybiscus Journals. You can download it for free - or whatever you think it is worth - here: http://thehybiscusjournals.bandcamp.com/track/yellow

I'm also working on putting together an e-book give-away. Keep an eye on the blog (http://eat-for-a-week.blogspot.com) for details!

* Feel free to use olive oil or butter if you prefer to keep this vegetarian. I was out of those and happened to have some bacon drippings in the fridge.
** These are optional. If you don't have them, leave them out. If you do have them, use them!