Recipe: Pumpkin Puree Soup
Vegetarian, Gluten-Free YIELDS: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS:- 1 medium pumpkin, about 8 pounds
- 1 Spanish onion, diced
- ½ cup rice
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 quarts cold water
- Salt and white pepper
- 1 cup light brown sugar, or to taste
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy flesh, leaving only the firm meat. Put the pumpkin on a baking sheet and roast it for about an hour, until it is cooked through and lightly browned on top.
Cool, peel, then chop the pumpkin into 1-inch chunks.
Heat a heavy-bottomed stock pot over low heat on the stove top. Add the butter. When it has melted, add the onions and sauté them until they are translucent. Add the rice and cook for another minute.
Add the chopped pumpkin and sauté for about five minutes, until it is almost dry. Season the soup with salt and pepper.
Add the water, turn up the heat, and bring the soup to a boil. When it boils, turn down the heat and simmer for at least one hour. Stir occasionally so that the rice does not stick to the bottom and burn.
When the soup has cooked for an hour, puree it in a blender or run it through a food mill. Return the soup to the stove and bring it back up to temperature. If you prefer a spiced soup, at this time add the sugar, the spices, salt and pepper.
Serve immediately.
For an extra fun show, serve the soup in a pumpkin.Recipe submitted by Lou Farrell of Fresh Fun Foods. October 2014.Cut out the top of the pumpkin as if to make a jack o’ lantern. Scoop the seeds and rinse out the inside. Preheat the pumpkin by filling it half full with hot water and letting it stand covered for five minutes. Dump out the water and pour the soup into the pumpkin. Bring it to the table on a platter decorated with colorful, dried, fallen leaves.
