Cinderella Pumpkin Soup
Cinderella pumpkins are a bright orange heirloom variety increasingly available at farmers’ markets. If not at hand, substitute pie pumpkins or switch it up with a squash such as butternut.
1 small Cinderella pumpkin (about 2 lb/1 kg)
1/4 cup (60 mL) brown sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) butter
1 onion, diced
1 Granny Smith apple, diced
1 small celery root, diced
1 - 1 in (2 cm) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
6 cups (1.5 L) chicken stock
1/2 tsp (2 mL) whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp (5 mL) whole star anise
Fleur de sel
Brown sugar
Butter
2 tsp (10 mL) sherry vinegar
Pumpkin Seeds
1/4 cup (60 mL) reserved pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup (60 mL) grapeseed oil
1 tsp (5 mL) fleur de sel
Mushroom Garnish
1 cup (250 mL) hedgehog mushrooms, cut into quarters
1 Tbsp (15 mL) butter
Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). Slice pumpkin into quarters, removing stem and seeds. Reserve seeds. Arrange pumpkin quarters on a baking tray, sprinkle on brown sugar, dot with 1/4 cup (60 mL) butter, and bake 45 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool slightly, and peel. Roughly dice and set aside with any juices from the baking pan.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 F (180 C). Toss reserved pumpkin seeds, oil, and salt in a bowl, spread out on a baking tray, and bake 15 minutes. Let cool.
Meanwhile, melt 1/4 cup (60 mL) butter in a pot over medium-high heat; add onion, apple, celery root, and ginger and sweat about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock, bring to boil, and reduce to simmer.
In a blender grind whole cloves, cinnamon stick, and star anise. Add 1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) of this spice mixture to vegetables, along with reserved baked pumpkin and juices.
Cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pur?in a blender. Season with salt and brown sugar to taste, adding more butter if needed to make a very smooth pur? Add sherry vinegar, strain soup through a fine strainer and keep warm.
In a separate pan sweat mushrooms in butter for 3 or 4 minutes over medium-high heat, being careful not to brown them.
To serve, whisk soup to give it a bubbly texture and pour it into 6 heated soup plates. Garnish each plate with pumpkin seeds and mushrooms and serve.
Serves 6
source: "Rustic Regionalism", alive #313, November 2008
Cinderella Pumpkin Soup
Directions
READ THIS NEXT
SEE MORE »
Mediterranean Hummus Pasta Salad
Made from chickpea flour, chickpea pasta has a similar taste and al dente texture to regular pasta, but with a lot more dietary fibre and protein. That makes it a healthy base for this colourful vegetable-forward pasta salad with tasting notes of the sunny Mediterranean. Hummus serves as a surprising backbone to a creamy dressing. Stir it up When preparing chickpea pasta, stir it a couple of times during the first minute of cooking and then start taste-testing the noodles a couple of minutes before you hit the recommended boiling time on the package. They can turn mushy quickly. And expect a lot of foam, so skim it off with a spoon, as needed, during cooking.
Roasted Rainbow Trout and Strawberry Salad
The idea is pretty simple: start with adding a dressing to a jar and then layer on various ingredients such as crisp veggies, buttery fish, and greens. Bingo … salad in a jar that’s ready to go when you are, with not a limp green in sight. Perfect for weekday lunches and healthy quick dinners. Wild salmon or Arctic char are good stand-ins for rainbow trout. Lentil love When preparing lentils for a particular dish, consider adding extra to the pot of simmering water. Cooked lentils freeze well and can be used as an easy plant-based protein addition to future salads.
Coconut Mango Panna Cotta
Inspired by its creamy Italian cousin, this vegetarian take on panna cotta swaps out the cream and gelatin for coconut milk and agar agar. Odourless and tasteless, agar-agar is a plant-based thickener derived from seaweed. It’s also a wonderful source of iron, fibre, and magnesium. If you plan on transporting these desserts, pour panna cotta into small jam jars. Once set, screw lids on top and place garnish in separate container. Once you reach your destination, simply garnish and serve.
Carrot, Radish, and Beet Salad with Apricot Vinaigrette
This happy jumble of vegetables is not only beautiful to look at but also scrumptious. Try to use a rainbow of different colours for the most striking salad presentation. Feel free to replace the dried apricots in the dressing with another dried fruit you may have on hand. Dried cranberries, dried cherries, or golden raisins are all delicious alternatives.