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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 12:06:15 GMT
Pumpkin soup is an autumn tradition in France, along with various uses of chestnuts and mushrooms. So here is a recipe for Pumpkin Soup¼ of a medium pumpkin 8 potatoes 50cl of chicken broth 200g sour cream Croutons (optional) Ground nutmeg Parsley Salt, Pepper (serves six) 1. Peel the pumpkin and remove the filaments from the fleshy part. Peel potatoes. Cut both items into approx. 3x3cm cubes. 2. Cook the pumpkin and potatoes in a pressure cooker. At the same time, heat the chicken broth. 3. Put the pumpkin and potatoes through a blender, slowing adding chicken broth as you do it. 4. Pour all of these items into a big pot when they have been blended. Mix in the sour cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. 5. As soon as the soup begins to bubble, remove it from the stove and transfer it into a tureen. Sprinkle chopped parsley on top. 6. Place a bowl of croutons on the table for those who want them. Variations: a. Use more pumpkin and fewer potatoes if you want. b. A carrot and/or leek may be added. c. If you like a sweeter taste, you can use sweet potatoes instead of potatoes. d. Smoked sausage can be cut up into the soup to make it a complete meal. e. Chopped mushrooms and chestnuts can be added to the final mix. f. People have been known to add a bit of curry powder or fresh ginger. g. Fried lardons can be thrown into the soup. h. If you have too many pumpkins in the patch, you can use a hollowed out pumpkin as a tureen and make a big impression on the guests.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 25, 2009 16:53:54 GMT
Oooooooo ~~ that would be so good!
A bowl of sour cream with minced chives would be nice table condiment.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 25, 2009 18:38:41 GMT
In Tuscany I've had a zuppa di zucca with fall mushrooms (likely the mazza di tamburo which is plentiful when the pumpkins are ripe) that is delicious even for a non pumpkinophile like myself.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2009 19:20:48 GMT
I have always approached pumpkin with trepidation, since I was never a fan of pumpkin pie growing up and really only knew it in that form until I left the United States.
But I really do enjoy pumpkin soup.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 28, 2009 14:13:02 GMT
If you don't like pumpkins (as narrowly defined - some definitions give many winter squashes/gourds as pumpkins) you can simply use another kind of winter squash. I do like them in the Italian and French recipes (not only soup but gratins, gnocchi etc). There is something very strange about any pumpkin pie I've tasted - and I don't just mean that I'm not a great fan of desserts; there is something odd about the texture).
Vegetarian Epicure (an old book from hippie days) has a good recipe for squash gnocchi. (gnocchi di zucca).
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Post by happytraveller on Oct 1, 2009 8:51:09 GMT
That's just about how I cook my pumpkin soup. Love that stuff ! It reminds me, I have some pumpkin in the fridge,I should probably cook it tonight. YUUM !
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Post by auntieannie on Oct 3, 2009 19:11:26 GMT
Fredy Girardet (a now deceased Swiss chef) had a version adding a leek and some mild curry masala. But the base was about what you describe, K.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2009 0:08:50 GMT
Maybe I'll remember to buy some pumpkin tomorrow.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2009 17:39:40 GMT
The pumpkin soup is now cooking and it smells wonderful. But it is for dinner tomorrow, not tonight.
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Post by lola on Oct 18, 2009 21:57:10 GMT
I'll try it with butternut squash, since it's not so easy to find good cooking pumpkins here.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2009 22:16:40 GMT
It should work just as well.
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Post by lola on Oct 21, 2009 21:51:54 GMT
I made the pumpkin soup with squash and sweet potatoes for tonight, and it's very good
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Post by imec on Oct 21, 2009 21:58:20 GMT
It should work just as well. Despite the nastiness?
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 0:55:46 GMT
Has he finally slipped over into madness?!
You're a witness -- you are all witnesses! Kerouac has positively ranted against both those vegetables, and now he's spooning them into his face?!
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Post by lola on Oct 22, 2009 1:01:02 GMT
Maybe it's a public service? The recipe, I mean. The pumpkin is full of all sorts of vitamins and whatnot.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 1:14:11 GMT
Maybe he fixed an enchanted pumpkin.
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Post by lola on Oct 22, 2009 1:49:51 GMT
Or is just admirably open minded.
I haven't seen that movie since I was a wee child, bixa. A treat.
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Post by lola on Oct 22, 2009 2:55:51 GMT
My daughter just got home from dance classes, tried the soup, and gave it her highest rating.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 3:32:58 GMT
Oh!!! I am so embarrassed. Don't know how I did it, but I thought it was Kerouac who made the squash/sweet potato soup! It was the lovely Lola! What all did you put in it?
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Post by lola on Oct 22, 2009 3:56:03 GMT
Bixa, we should know each other well enough for you to make fun of my soup! Or the concept of it anyway, since it's impractical for you to taste this batch.
We went in the grated fresh ginger/tad of curry/nutmeg direction, used butternut squash, threw in a carrot at the beginning. Since I predicted (correctly) that my husband would not want it no matter what, I kept it vegetarian by my daughter's preference and used water instead of chicken broth. (So by this time it bears very little resemblance to K's model, except in my mind where it remains French pumpkin soup.)
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 4:14:37 GMT
What I would like about the vegetarian version is that it would be delightful cold, with maybe a dollop of yogurt or sour cream on top. (unless one is a vegan)
I would never mock your soup! I thought I was mocking Kerouac for doing an about-face on the squash & sweet potato issues.
You may mock me, if you wish, for being a blithering idiot.
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Post by lola on Oct 22, 2009 4:30:03 GMT
NEH vah!
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 4:32:14 GMT
Whew!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2009 5:10:44 GMT
Squash soup would not bother me -- the best way to eat anything you don't like is in soup version, dried toads, for example.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 5:13:33 GMT
eye of newt
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Post by lola on Oct 22, 2009 22:46:09 GMT
Another fine seasonal soup.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 22, 2009 23:40:05 GMT
If we get one more weird sister, we can proceed to make it!
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Post by lola on Oct 23, 2009 0:34:49 GMT
anon!
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Post by cristina on Oct 28, 2009 3:49:01 GMT
I bought a sugar pumpkin at the market today, with the idea of making pumpkin soup.
I don't have a pressure cooker though. Also have no desire to peel a raw pumpkin. So I think I will scrape out the pulp and seeds, then cut the remainder into manageable sections and roast them. Then peel the skin from the flesh and then add to a soup of broth, potatoes and whatever else comes to mind, but on top of the stove.
We'll see how this goes. The weather has cooled down here quite a bit and I am in major soup making mode.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2009 3:53:34 GMT
Peeling a raw pumpkin can indeed be arduous. However I found that cutting it into slices like a melon made it easy to get the skin off.
I don't have a pressure cooker either -- I just cooked it until it fell apart.
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