Karen's Pumpkin Soup

 In Honor of Thanksgiving I wanted to share one of my favorite and frequently created soups.                                                  
This soup is made with fresh roasted sugar pumpkin, but you can easily substitute it with any other yellow winter squash such as butternut or to save time use canned pumpkin, 3-4 cans depending on
how thick you want the soup...add more stock if necessary.


Ingredients

1- 6 Lb. sugar pumpkin
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 yellow onion, med diced
2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
2 shallots, sliced thinly
1 stalk celery, diced
6 fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 sprig thyme
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
freshly ground white pepper
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 Tbs. maple syrup
¼ cup cream

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut the pumpkin I half, take out the seeds and place on a parchment lined sheet pan cut side down. Place the two halves in the oven. Bake for 1-1/2 hours until pumpkin is soft to the touch and gives a bit when pressed on the outside.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
Meanwhile, in a 6 quart pot sweat the onion, garlic, shallots and celery over medium low heat so that the vegetables soften but no color develops,8 minutes, add the herbs, spices salt and the white pepper. Continue cooking for about 20 minutes until vegetables are cooked through.
While the vegetables are softening, scoop the pumpkin out of the shell.
Add the pumpkin to the vegetables and stir.
Add the chicken broth and raise the heat to high, and bring quickly to a boil.
Lower the heat and simmer 30 minutes.
Remove the thyme sprig and carefully puree the soup in batches in a food processor.
Add the maple syrup and cream and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Serve with the pumpkin seeds

Spicy Pumpkin seeds

These seeds are a terrific snack or great accompaniment to the pumpkin soup.
They are a good source of magnesium, and, zinc, important minerals and protein.

Ingredients

1 cup shelled pumpkin seeds
1 /2 Tbs. egg white
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp Fleur De sel or kosher salt
¼ tsp ground sage
¼ tsp. cayenne

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the pumpkin seeds on a sheet pan. With your hands, coat the seeds thoroughly with the egg white. In a small bowl combine the herb, spices and salt. Toss the combined spices on the coated seeds, making sure the seed are evenly coasted with the spice mixture. Place  in the hot oven.
Roast the seeds for 12 minutes until they are nutty brown and crispy. Remove from the oven and toss gently with a metal spatula.
Garnish the seeds for the pumpkin soup.

 Happy Thanksgiving... The Gorgeous Birthday flowers from my friend Anthony
Recipe, Photos and Writing by, Karen Pickus 2011
Courtesy Karen Pickus 2011