Episode Details

CURRIED PUMPKIN SOUP (serves 6-8)

by Andi Macdonald, Chef and Sacramento County Master Gardener

INGREDIENTS

* 2 tablespoons olive oil

* 1 cup diced onions

* 1/2 cup diced carrots

* 1/2 cup diced celery

* 1 tsp minced garlic

* 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)

* 6 cups vegetable stock

* Salt to taste

* 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

* 1/4 cup curry paste* (or more, to taste)

* 4 cups pumpkin puree**

* 1 can coconut milk (12-13 ounces)

* Chopped parsley for garnish

* Toasted pumpkin seeds for garnish.

INSTRUCTIONS

* Heat the olive oil in a soup pot. Saute onion, carrots, and celery until soft. Add garlic and sauce one minute more. Add wine (optional). Boil down until almost evaporated. Be careful not to scorch the vegetables.

* Add stock, pepper, curry paste, and pumpkin. Stir thoroughly to combine. Bring to a boil, immediately reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add more liquid (stock or water) if soup seems to thick.

* Puree the soup in small batches using a food processor or blender. You can either do this hot, being careful with hot liquid in a blender, or if time allows, let cool and then blend. Depending on how velvety you want the texture, you can pour the soup through a sieve after blending.

* Return to pan and stir in coconut milk. Optional: add salt to suit your taste. Bring the soup to the brink of a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for another 30 minutes. Taste again and adjust for salt and pepper. Pour into soup bowls and garnish with fresh parsley and pumpkin seeds.

* Curry paste is available in many grocery stores in the specialty Asian sections. It can also be ordered online. Heat (spiciness) can vary, so take a taste before adding to the soup. You can always add more. Curry powder can be used instead of the paste. Start with a smaller amount and add more to taste.

** Pumpkin puree can be canned or scraped from a roasted pumpkin (no seeds!). If you make your own, the flavor is better if a variety of winter squashes are used. For this recipe, I combine roasted butternut, kabocha, and pie pumpkins. I have found that the pumpkins sold as pie pumpkins aren’t as flavorful as a combination of squashes. They also tend to be more watery than other winter squashes. A note - if you make your own pumpkin pies, try a combination of winter squashes, as well.

The best pumpkins for soup?

Andi stresses that to make pumpkin soup as appealing as possible, use several different winter squashes in the puree. Her recipe uses a pumpkin, Butternut Squash and Kabocha squash.

Johnny’s Selected Seed website mentions many more tasty winter squashes worth trying, including Delicata, Acorn, Hubbard, and Buttercup.

In the podcast, for her pumpkin, Andi mentions purchasing a 7 or 8-inch pumpkin from the grocery store, with the word “Sweet” in its name. This website lists their favorite pumpkins for puree. One of them: Early Sweet Sugar Pie, an heirloom variety carried by Burpee Seeds. Their description: “The fine orange flesh of this favorite is the best for rich pumpkin pies. Easy to handle, at only 6-7 lb. each.”

Seed company Botanical Interests says this about another with a similar name (perhaps it’s the same?), Sugar Pie, an heirloom: “Since the 1800s, 'Sugar Pie' has bee