I saw a beautiful pie pumpkin on the shelf at the grocery store and it called to me. Once I got it home, I realized I needed to come up with something to do with it. I chose SOUP!
Why soup?
Well first of all, you can make a ton and then freeze some. Therefore it can be categorized under the snazzy label “fast slow food.”
Secondly, pumpkin is meant to be savory. We mostly think of pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread, but the sweetness of the pumpkin clashes with the sweeteners in my humble, yet bold, opinion.
Thirdly, soup is easy to digest and pumpkins are filled with fabulous fibers that feed the friendly flora in your gut.
My intention behind creating this video was to show you exactly how I take a recipe and use it as a guide to make up my own thing.
I started out with this recipe from Bon Appetit: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/vegan-butternut-squash-soup
I turned it into this recipe of my own:
Ingredients:
- 2 shallots thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
Method:
Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut pumpkin in half and place face down in a baking dish. Do not remove seeds. No need to add oil. Bake for 59 minutes and then turn off the oven and allow it stay in the oven to cool down for at least an hour.
Heat olive oil in cast iron or ceramic dutch oven over medium high and add chopped onion, crushed garlic cloves, ginger, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 tsp red chili flakes ground. Stir until caramelized.
Take pumpkin out of oven and gently scrape out the seeds. Peel off the skins with your hands and put all the baked pumpkin into the dutch oven.
Add 3 cups of water and the coconut cream. Add cilantro at some point.
Add 2-3 more teaspoons of salt to taste.
Blend until creamy.
Transfer back to the dutch oven and add in the juice from one lime. (Optional: sauerkraut brine)
Adjust salt as needed.
In a small cast iron pan heat 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add shallots and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Caramelize and use as a garnish with cilantro leaves when ready to serve!
