Makes about 8 servings
- a small (4lb) cooking pumpkin (see notes)
- 6 small shallots
- 1½ inches ginger root
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3-3½ cups vegetable broth (see notes)
- 6 ounces heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons salt
- black pepper
- croutons
- toasted pumpkin seeds
- pumpkin oil to drizzle (optional)
Special equipment
- Y-peeler
immersion blender
Method
- Remove the stem from the pumpkin, and cut the remaining pumpkin into large wedges. Remove seeds and set aside. Peel the wedges and cut into cubes of about ¾ inches. If you’ve never used a Y-peeler before, now is the time to try. If you use a swivel peeler, the peeling will be tiring and laborious.
Peel the shallots and chop finely. Peel the ginger and dice.
Heat the oil in a large pot on medium high heat. Add shallots and ginger and fry, stirring often, till translucent. Add pumpkin pieces and cook for about 4 minutes. Sprinkle the sugar even over the pumpkin pieces and let them carmelize to a light brown. Add the broth, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to the lightest simmer, and let it cook uncovered until the pumpkin has softened, maybe 20 minutes.
Pureé the soup with an immersion blender. You’ll still want to fish around with a spoon to make sure you haven’t missed any chunks. Add salt, pepper, cream, and bring to a quick boil.
Ladle into soup bowls, swirl in the pumpkin oil decoratively, and top with pumpkin seeds, croutons.
Notes
- Recipe is based on Martina Kittler’s though a lot of pumpkin ginger cream soup recipes seemed to pop up last year. Hers tested so well, there was no need to pursue any other.
Here at the Mabinogi Inn, we prefer a locally grown heirloom pumpkin called Small Sugar, but use whatever you like or have on hand. If you’re using canned pumpkin, you’ll need about 2½ lbs worth and may need to boost the amount of broth.↩
We like our soup on the thicker side, though testers preferred it thinner. The amount of broth you need will also depend on the density of the type of pumpkin you use.↩
Suggestions
- The croutons and toasted seeds are a must. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to use the seeds from the pumpkin you’ve just cubed because you won’t have the time to clean, dry, boil, hull, redry, and roast them. Save them for next time if you’re up for the challenge. If pumpkin seeds aren’t readily available, commercial dry-roasted sunflower seeds work almost as well. Kittler recommends croutons made from a chili bread, which really does add a wonderful touch. If you don’t use chili bread, you may want to consider using chili oil for the swirl.
She also suggests substituting unsweetened coconut milk for half the broth, and maybe adding some curry powder. Yum!
If you want to freeze your fresh pumpkin for later consumption, most advisors recommend cooking it completely and pureéing it before freezing in order to disable enzymes that would act on it even while frozen (the same reason you blanch some vegetables before freezing). We’ve found that simmering the chunks in about 8 oz of water per 2½ lb of pumpkin yields about 2½ lb of cooked, pureéd pumpkin.
