Saturday, October 18, 2008

Roasted Pumpkin & Garlic Soup

I've been wanting to post about this soup for sometime. I discovered this at the end of winter last year so I only made it once & then again recently and my judgement is......

This soup is a winner!

I would say this is a manly soup (whatever that means). If your man likes a rich/nutty/sweet/near barbequed taste, then -- this soup you must try!

Even my "pumpkin-wary" husband went totally berserk over this soup. With a little home made bread, this would dress up any dinner, real nicely. So stop being a "kabocha wimp" & do it, NOW!!
Again, this is from the cookbook "Masterclass in Italian cooking". Unlike some of the other recipes, the ingr. are simple & instructions very basic. Again my embellishments in blue.

1 small pumpkin (750g/1 lb 10oz)
6 cloves garlic (I used only 3 as the kids didn't go for the garlic taste as much as DH & I)
4 tbsp olive oil
2 med onions, chopped (1 is passable)
2 celery sticks, chopped
1/4 c rice (I use a little less, @ 3 tbsp, Japanese rice is a little more glutinous so it was too thick with 1/4 a c.)
7 c vegetable or chicken stock (or use 4-5 chicken bullion cubes)
Salt & pepper to taste

And here goes the assembly. WELL, don't just stand there!! Grab your kabocha, friend!!!

Use 2 tbsp of olive oil & toss UNPEELED garlic & chopped pumpkin on a baking tray. IMPORTANT: Keep them away from each other for even browning, on all sides.
Just lop the end off the garlic & leave whole. Grill at 200c (400F) for about 20-30 min. Or till just golden brown.
Purrrfect. Be sure to pop the garlic out of their skins. Saute up onion & celery (didn't have it this time) in the other 2 tbsp of olive oil for about 10 min.
Throw in onion & rice in the simmering chicken stock, simmer for about 15-20 min. Add pumpkin & garlic & simmer for another 5-10. Throw it all in the blender & blend away, baby!!
Taste & season! Yes, it tastes as good as it looks. (unless you make immature remarks about it looking like baby poo.....for shame)
I even threw in a little bit of milk to thin it out even further (when I used the full 1/4 c of rice) & it was just soooooooo good, I would be terribly tempted to splash a dollip of cream & Italian parsely when serving.
OK, you have permission to lick the bottom of the bowl, I know I am going to!

8 comments:

象さん said...

Hi,
Been thinking I really want to see you and check out some goss!
Im in here looking for a lemon spread, and or, using sato imo recipe....I've been making pumpkin soup too, I'm afraid I'm with the kids on the garlic, for pumpkin soup. But I did see a recipe somewhere that Ive been meaning to try out using the garlic and celery flavour with 'kuri'. The rice in it would be good too, thanks for the tip on not using too much-that was what I was doing wrong...3 spns? That's nuthin!....aaaand with L.otsO.fK.ids,LOK!!
Hope to see youz soon.
Jodie

Anonymous said...

Now that is something I can make. We've got pumpkin coming outta our ears over here. I will someday post a photo of a creative creation someone came up with. Lets just say that my kids can't look at pumpkin pie the same way again... ever. :)
I love pumpkin soup, especially creamy ones, but this looks good too.

Anonymous said...

And I'm glad you put up your old header. I like it a lot!

Nina said...

Sounds good; especially if it's more on the salty side than sweet.

One Q: how do u... toss garlic & chopped pumpkin in oil on a baking tray? I don't really see that working... or maybe I'm just clumsy.

Lei said...

Sorry to be such a dumb dumb here but is this cooked rice or 'okome' :)

Babylove said...

Jodie: Kuri soup, sounds neat. The kids have been pressuring me to make kuri rice...I'm soo not into peeling all those kuri.

Kari: I always feel so bad about bad "pumpkin pie" stories, it seems like there are a lot out there.

Nina: All you need to do is pour the olive oil over it all when it's in the pan then toss it around till it's coated & then spread them evenly apart.

Lei: Yeah, that's okome, sorry, I'll clarify that in the recipe. But I bet you could use LO rice if you were short on time.

Nina said...

Peeling kuri = great kids' project :) (Tell'm, "You want Kuri Rice, I'll make it if u peel the kuri for Parent Time." Heheh!)

Junior said...

I tried this one and it was the bomb, just perfect for cold days!!! Thank you for posting it.