RECIPE: Creamy Pumpkin Soup
The flavors of fall come together beautifully in this creamy pumpkin soup recipe. Bon appetit!
Southern food and lifestyle writer Christiana Roussel joins us today to share one of her favorite fall soup recipes: creamy pumpkin soup. Here’s why it should be on your fall menu, too!
Somewhere between now and Christmas, you’re going to find yourself inundated with winter squash. A quick trip to the Finley Avenue Farmers Market or the Pepper Place Saturday Market will yield more varieties of winter squash than you can fathom: Blue Hubbard, Jarrahdale, Kabocha, Delicata … Beyond decorating, these squash are delicious, and they are easy to use in almost any autumn dish. I am partial to skinning, seeding and roasting them, adding bits to a kale salad or puréeing with fresh ginger to accompany a roasted rosemary pork loin. But the easiest way to use them, by far, is just making a soup.
For this creamy pumpkin soup recipe, I use a mixture of sugar pumpkin and butternut squash, but you can use almost any type you have on hand. Roasting concentrates the flavor and fills the house with such a happy smell. Fill a warmed crockpot with it while you toast some croutons (I like using Crestline Bagel Challah), and you have the perfect filler for chilly trick-or-treaters. But while you’re at it, why not double the recipe and freeze some for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners? The warm orange color is such a festive way to start those family meals.
Creamy Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
- 1 3- pound sugar pumpkin or 3 pounds butternut squash—peeled seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2 leeks white and light green parts only, cleaned and chopped
- 4 to 6 cups chicken broth
- Garnish: sour cream pomegranate seeds*, fresh thyme leaves, toasted pumpkin seeds or croutons and paprika (preferably smoked), for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the pumpkin with 2 Tablespoons of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the leeks and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Add the roasted pumpkin, 4 cups of the broth and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before proceeding.
- In a blender, working in batches, puree the soup until smooth, adjusting the consistency with the remaining broth as necessary. (Alternatively, use a handheld immersion blender in the saucepan.)
- Garnish with pomegranate seeds*, fresh thyme leaves, toasted pumpkin seeds or croutons.
- Pomegranate seeds, also called ‘arils’, can be found in the produce section of some supermarkets. Seeding a whole pomegranate can be messy business unless you do the following:
- Fill a large bowl with cold water.
- With the whole pomegranate submerged, slice the fruit in half with a knife. Use your fingers to gently release the arils from the spongy inside of the fruit.
- Doing so will keep from staining your fingers and countertops, while the arils sink and the flesh floats; use a colander to separate. Voila!
Nutrition
Thanks, Christiana! This looks amazing!
All images courtesy of Christiana Roussel.
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