I started by researching a ton of pumpkin soup recipes. I wound up drawing from the best parts of my top 5 and then adding my own touches to make a final product. One version of pumpkin soup that caught my eye was a "spiked pumpkin soup." Maple syrup, cider, and bourbon gave it a sweeter profile. Those ingredients sounded great and I decided to incorporate them. However, I really wanted a spicy profile as well. I had a Trealeaven Gewurztraminer in the refrigerator, and I wanted the dish to match the incredible spice notes in the wine. I stumbled across a soup that used a Moroccan Spice blend called Ras el Hanout. I loved the majority of the spices I saw and was excited to channel the Middle Eastern Studies major side of myself in my cooking. However, the blend called for curry and saffron. There are only 3 foods I don't like: coconut, curry, and saffron. I love squid. Octopus. Crispy pork ear. Beef cheeks. Beef tongue. But I hate those 3 simple ingredients. Go figure. So I altered the blend slightly to suit my palette.
Personal touches included the addition of bacon. My father, in particular, always insists on some type of meat in a dish if it is to constitute "dinner." Although I disagree personally, I try to keep this in mind when cooking for my family. I thought crumbled bacon as a garnish would add flavor. I realized I could use some of the pan liquid to impart some smoky richness as well.
In addition, I challenged myself to use every part of actual pumpkins. Most recipes called for canned pumpkin. I always prefer freshness, especially when the gourd is in season, so I opted to use as much actual pumpkin flesh as I could render. I also chose to pre-roast it before pureeing it. Furthermore, I wanted to incorporate the seeds and accomplished that by roasting them and using them as a garnish and side. Finally, and best of all, I served the soup in the remaining pumpkin shells! After hollowing them out, I sliced them in half and made "bowls."
With a very lose plan in place, I began my roasting and created a mise en place (or my messy version of one, with things crammed in every nook and cranny of my teeny kitchen.) I added the pumpkin, canned pumpkin (necessary since the soup needs more flesh than what I could get from the gourds), bourbon, maple syrup, apple cider, and chicken broth until I got a consistency and flavor that I enjoyed. I'm not really sure what the actual quantities were. I estimated what I did retrospectively and outlined it in the "recipe" below:
Ingredients
3 sugar pumpkins
- Scoop out and roast the seeds
- Cut out as much as the flesh as possible preserving the outer shell. Roast it in the oven.
- Cut the hollowed pumpkins in half so that you have 3 pumpkin “bowls” to serve the soup in
1 cup chopped shallot (My choice: I like this over onion, but onion works too.)
2 garlic cloves, minced
Spice blend
Apple cider (1 cup?)
Bourbon (1/2 cup?)
Maple syrup (1/2 cup?)
Canned pumpkin- Depending on how much you need to add
Chicken broth (2 cans?)
Salt & Pepper
Preparation
Heat oven to 350.
Roast the pumpkin on a baking sheet with cooking spray until tender and
slightly brown. (20-30 minutes?) Remove.
Cook the bacon in a Dutch oven, per package instructions. Crumble/dice the bacon and set it aside. Reserve some of the cooking liquid in the pan.
Without washing the Dutch oven, adjust it to medium-high
heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallot, spices, and garlic cloves;
sauté until lightly browned. Stir in cider, bourbon, syrup, pumpkin, and broth;
bring to a boil. (Quantities are dependent on your preferences. Add in the ratios that give it the taste and thickness that you want. You may have to add as the soup simmers.) Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
Process the pumpkin mixture in a blender until
smooth. Return to pan. Cook until heated, stirring frequently.
Ladle soup into the pumpkins. Garnish with bacon and pumpkin seeds if
desired. Sprinkle with extra spice, if
desired.
Spice Blend:
I combined the following in a ratio that I liked. Play around with these- and incorporate the saffron and curry that I omitted!!
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Ginger
Cinnamon
Allspice
Ground Cloves
Ground Coriander
Cayenne
Day 2: Tom Colicchio's Bread Pudding Topped Sweet Potatoes... Pumpkin Style!!
The soup had all of the elementst that I strove for, and I was pleased that my endeavor worked out. (Not all do... haha) Even though we all had seconds, there were still leftovers. I figured we could have another night of pumpkin soup... until I saw Tom Colicchio's segment on the Rachel Ray show. Side note: To be clear, I am not in the habit of watching the Rachel Ray show. Or reading Rachel Ray cookbooks. I already admitted hypocrisy once in this entry, and I want you to know that I am not going back on my previous convictions again. I watched Rachel Ray because 1) Wendy Williams was on commercial break and 2) I think highly of Tom Colicchio and always learn some cool things when I see him cook on TV.
Tom presented a recipe called "Bread Pudding Topped Sweet Potatoes." The idea is to reinvent the delicious, sweet bread pudding in a savory form. Basically, the dish is like a casserole with a layer of sweet potato puree, bread pudding (bread cubes and custard), and veggies. I figured that my leftover soup was thick enough that it could make for a "puree." Pumpkins could make for a great sweet potato substitution- especially with the sweet and spicy aspects I added to my soup.
I made a few changes to his recipe for my version. As mentioned, I substituted my pumpkin soup for the sweet potato puree. I also omitted the butter and cream due to my dairy issues. The dish still proved rich and creamy because of the egg. I also used the veggies I had on hand instead of the ones called for, which were shallots, celery, and carrots. I used cranberries instead of raisins as well. Portions had to be adjusted and I had to make it in a smaller bread pan to account for the smaller amount of soup I had left.
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| Cranberries, veggies, bread, and egg |
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| Into the oven... |
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| ...out of the oven, golden brown! |
It turned out amazing!! The recipe also served as a reminder of the power of the egg. I have gotten pretty good at figuring out how to omit dairy and still make components with texture, thickness, and flavor, but up until this point I have not really turned to the egg; I use ingredients like syrup, stocks, and vinegars. I forgot that egg can impart creaminess and plan to use it more! I will need to do some more research about cooking times and safety though. That can be one of my new projects if the hurricane keeps me homebound.
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| Served up on the plate |
And for dessert...
Inspired by leftover pumpkin seeds and my recent trip to Colicchio and Sons, I made my own pepita brittle! The process itself consists of caramelizing sugar and water in a pan, adding a spot of butter, and mixing in whatever ingredients (pepitas, spices, etc) strike your fancy! You then lay it out in a thin layer on parchment paper to solidify.
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| Pepita brittle drying |
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| Pepita brittle! |
And Days 3, 4, and 5...
I have so much to write about! Barcelona, a favorite of mine, is one of the restaurants that's had power throughout this ordeal. I can't wait to tell you about my discoveries. I'll also be helping our area and supporting the Top Chef alumni who are holding a benefit dinner for hurricane sandy recover Monday evening. I'll let you know what they created :).
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