Many people only eat pumpkins in pie, or in sweet desserts like cheesecake, but they're both incredibly nutritious and tasty in savory dishes. This soup is filling enough to make a savory main dish. I've also served it at Thanksgiving dinner. I've recommended either soy milk or half-and-half as a finish at the end; if you're allergic to both dairy and soy, simply leave them out.
Prep Time: 0:15
Cook Time: 1:30
Ingredients:
- 1 medium pumpkin
- 1/4 c olive oil (plus additional for sautéing)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 apples, any variety, cored, peeled, and coarsely chopped
- 4 c chicken or vegetable stock
- Nutmeg, to taste
- 2/3 cup half-and-half or soy milk
- Fresh thyme sprigs for garnish (optional)
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare pumpkin by chopping off stem end. Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds. (Reserve seeds to roast later, if desired.) Slather exposed pumpkin flesh with oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Roast pumpkin in a baking dish for 40 minutes, or until pumpkin flesh is starting to turn light brown. At this point, you can store pumpkin in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours before continuing with the recipe, if you wish. Let pumpkin cool enough to handle before continuing to next step.
- Peel pumpkin and cut flesh into chunks. Heat a small amount of cooking oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot until quite warm. Sauté apples, onion, and pumpkin until golden brown, soft, and very fragrant. Add stock and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to warm and let simmer for 30 minutes, covered, or until pumpkins and apples are very soft.
- Purée entire mixture, either in batches in a blender or using a stick blender. Return to stock pot. If using half-and-half, temper to prevent curdling by adding spoonfuls of hot soup to the half-and-half, stirring constantly, until you've added about 1/2 cup of soup to the half-and-half; then add entire mixture back into soup and stir in quickly. If using soy milk, simply stir into puréed soup. Serve immediately. Garnish individual servings with fresh sprigs of thyme, if desired.
Serves 8 to 10 as part of a large meal, or 4 to 6 as a main dish.
