Roasted Pumpkin Bisque

It felt like fall this weekend:  beautiful weather and a big football game.  My husband and I decided to go to a potluck dinner before watching the game with friends.  I brought a giant pot of roasted pumpkin bisque.  It was a HUGE hit.  I took my soup pot home empty.

Not only is it delicious, its good for you.  Even with the cream, this soup has about 200 calories per bowl (about 16 oz.).  Without the cream, its even better for you and still tastes fantastic.  This recipe serves about 8 to 10 people.

Ingredients

5 pounds pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 yellow onions, chopped

1-2 tablespoon dried thyme

Several tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

4-6 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

2/3 cup heavy cream or crème fraîche (optional)

Salted, roasted pistachios, chopped (optional)

Directions

Roast the pumpkin as described in this post, method #2.  Along with the pumpkin, dice the onions and add them to the ziplock bag to coat with olive oil and thyme.  Depending on how much pumpkin you have, you may have to coat and roast in batches.

While roasting the pumpkin, simmer 4 cups of low sodium vegetable broth and white wine in a large soup pot.  When pumpkin is done, place hot pumpkin into the vegetable broth. Simmer for 10 minutes.

If you have an immersion blender, use it to puree the soup in the soup pot.  If not, use a blender and puree the soup in batches.  Be careful not to burn yourself.  As the pumpkin is pureed, the soup gets thicker and starts to bubble.

Once pureed, add the cardamom.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  You can also add more vegetable broth to adjust the thickness of the soup.

If you are planning on eating it right away, take the pot off of heat and add cream. If you are taking the soup to a potluck like I did or are going to eat it later, add the cream once you reheat it.

Garnish with chopped pistachios.

Do not fear the Pumpkin: Just Roast it!

A giagantic pumpkin has been staring at me from my dining room table since Wednesday.  Its a little daunting.  I’ve been thinking of things to do with it, but really the recipes I’m interested in making all call for pumpkin puree.  So I decided to roast it.

Here are two ways to roast a pumpkin:

Method 1: Use this method if you want pumpkin puree to use in another recipe.

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the stringy insides and seeds with a spoon.  Cut again into quarters so you have a total of 4 pieces.  You can separate out the seeds and roast them later.

3.  Rub the flesh of the pumpkin with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place each quarter flesh side up on an oiled cookie sheet.

4.  Place in the oven and roast until the flesh is tender – about 20-30 minutes.

5.  When tender, take the pumpkin out of the oven and let it cool until you can handle it with bare hands.

6.  Scoop the tender flesh into a large bowl.  You can keep it in the fridge for a day or two or you can freeze it if you won’t be using it right away.  This can be used for making anything that calls for pumpkin puree like pies or soups.

Method 2: You can use this method if you don’t necessarily want puree, if you’d like to serve it in pretty, whole chunks, or if you’d like to add extra a coating of herbs or spices to the pumpkin squares.

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2.  Cut the pumpkin into quarters and scoop out the stringy insides and seeds.

3.  Use a vegetable peeler or pairing knife to remove the thin skin on the outside of the pumpkin.

4.  Cut into 1″ chunks.  Place the chunks into a ziplock bag with about 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper, and whatever herb you’d like.  A sure bet for a meal side dish would be thyme.  Shake the bag to coat all pieces then  spread on an oiled cookie sheet.

5.  Roast until tender and slightly browned – about 20 minutes.

6.  Remove from the oven and serve or you can place the chunks in a bowl and use an emersion blender to puree.

Roasted Zucchini with Garlic

Simply Recipes provides a very simple and delicious new way to enjoy your zucchini. Use your zucchini from this week’s box and serve Roasted Zucchini with Garlic for dinner. Your family’s sure to enjoy it.
*Picture borrowed from www.SimplyRecipes.com.

Note: Not sure what Herbes de Provence is, Wikipedia has it covered. Don’t have it on hand, just improvise with a little fennel, basil and thyme.

Seminole pumpkins straight from the farm

Wonder why your box was so heavy today?  It was the Seminole pumpkin.

This pumpkin has a long history.  Grown for hundreds of years in south Florida, it pre-dates the arrival of European settlers.  The Florida Indian relied heavily on it for survival and improved it through selection over the centuries.  Today, the Seminole pumpkin is well adapted to life in the Everglade because it resists diseases and pests that would decimate other varieties of pumpkins.

Jordan, the farmer who grows our Seminole pumpkins at The Family Garden CSA, told me the best way to eat it is roasted.  He suggested cutting the pumpkin into sections, scooping out the seeds (which are also great roasted just like traditional pumpkin seeds), and roasting in the oven.

You can make so many dishes with cooked pumpkin.  Make it into puree and use it in pumpkin pie, chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, pumpkin risotto, pumpkin soup, or as you would any other winter squash.  Recipes coming very soon!