Farmer Don’s Pumpkin Soup

This past spring, Don called me to tell me that he had bought packets of seeds at the grocery store because they were on sale. He said that he wanted to plant them, but did not know how. I told him I was pretty sure they wouldn’t grow, but he was determined to plant a garden. He scattered the seeds all over his yard and forgot about them. After our summer in California, we returned to Chicago to discover a huge pumpkin patch growing in his backyard. I was totally shocked how big the plants got. There were about four large orange pumpkins ready for harvest, so I told his family I would cook one of them for dinner. I scooped out the pumpkin seeds and baked them for a snack, and I made pumpkin soup with the rest.

Here are the recipes:

Easy Pumpkin Seeds

Scoop the seeds out of the pumpkin and place in a bowl. Try to separate the seeds from the stringy part of the pumpkin. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the seeds out on a baking sheet and drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil over them. Sprinkle them with salt. Place the baking sheet in the oven. After 15 minutes,use a spatula to flip the seeds and make sure they do not burn. Leave them in the oven for about 30 minutes or until seeds are brown.

Farmer Don’s Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoons butter

1 fresh bay leaf

2 ribs celery chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

Salt and pepper

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

2 teaspoons hot sauce

6 cups veggie stock (low sodium)

1/2 of cooked pumpkin, pureed

1 cup heavy cream

Directions

Cut a medium sized fresh pumpkin in half. Scoop out all the seeds and place them in a separate bowl (don’t discard, see pumpkin seed recipe). Take half of the pumpkin and slice it into smaller wedges with the skin still on. Put the wedges in a microwave safe bowl with a lid, and fill with two inches of water. Put the covered bowl in the microwave for 15 minutes, or until pumpkin slices are soft. You can tell when a fork can easily pierce the skin. Once cool, peel off and discard the skin. Put the soft pumpkin pieces in the blender and puree. 

Heat a medium soup pot over medium on medium heat. Add the oil and melt the butter. Add bay, celery, and onion. Season them with salt and pepper. Cook 6 or 7 minutes, until tender. Add flour, poultry seasoning and hot sauce, to taste, then cook flour a minute. Whisk in veggie stock and bring liquid to a bubble. Whisk in pumpkin in large spoonfuls to incorporate it into the broth. Simmer soup 10 minutes to thicken a bit then add in cream.

Adapted from this Food Network recipe. Picture via Flikr