Monday, October 20, 2008

Pumpkin Soup: a recipe.


Three years ago, Dashing Boy and I made our first television debut together on the wildly popular cooking segment Aggie Kitchen for Utah State's campus broadcast station.

We were making pumpkin soup- an impressive dish that my father-in-law used to prepare in his award-winning restaurant. It was very exciting. Two cameras were set-up in the kitchen- strategically placed for optimal shot variety. Ingredients were pre-measured for effortless work while the cameras were rolling. And a script was created so that we could be sure to do a super-fancy job as cooking hosts.

It took us about 30 minutes to write 4 lines.

"How about this..." "How about that..." Dashing Boy would say as I scribbled things down. "I don't know if that works," I'd say, concerned with the flow and whether we'd be able to fit everything into the allotted 3 minutes for the segment.

But there were 2 lines I just couldn't turn down as I stared into Dashing Boy's sweet, eager, serious eyes. First:

"As temperatures begin to drop in Logan, Utah State students are on the lookout for two things: some one to cuddle-up with and a hot meal."

and my favorite:

"Now the most amazing thing about this soup is that it reminds us that pumpkins are not just for jack-o-lanterns. They are an excellent source of food and it's so amazing because it's so cheap and students who are looking for cost effective meals could have meal after meal out of just one pumpkin!"

Oh, he's so cute!

This last week I received 2 requests for this lovely, delicious soup and so I present it to you here. Dazzle your family, amaze your friends, and give your wallet a break as you experience the economic power of the pumpkin.


Pumpkin Soup
1 (6 to 8-pound) pumpkin
3 cups toasted croutons
8 ounces grated Swiss cheese
4-6 cups chicken or vegetable broth (depending on how large your pumpkin is!)
salt and pepper to taste
nutmeg to taste
1-2 cups cream
shrimp if you wish

  • preheat oven to 425°
  • Cut top off pumpkin as if you were making a jack-o-lantern (make sure to cut on a slant so the lid can go back on without falling inside!) Clean pumpkin out, removing all seeds. Set top aside.
  • In a saucepan bring vegetable broth to a boil
  • In alternate layers add croutons and swiss cheese to inside of pumpkin (the pumpkin should look pretty full when all is added!)
  • Pour hot broth into pumpkin (fill pumpkin about 2/3 full with the broth)
  • add a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg (you can be modest at this point if you wish, as you can add more to taste later)
  • Put the lid on the pumpkin, place pumpkin in baking dish or large pan and bake in the oven at 425° for 40min-1 hour.
  • Check the pumpkin periodically to see how soft the inside of the pumpkin is getting by removing the lid and poking it with a knife(this usually takes around an hour as stated above.) However- it varies- so check! You want it to be softening up just like squash but not too soft (IF YOU LET IT GET TOO SOFT THE ENTIRE PUMPKIN COULD COLLAPSE!)
  • After about 40min-1 hr add the cream. Put lid back on pumpkin and let cook 10 minutes more or less until the pumpkin flesh is tender.
  • Take pumpkin out of oven and present to your loved ones
  • Scoop out the pumpkin flesh with the soup into bowls and enjoy!

8 comments:

the browns said...

oh wow! I just wrote this down and plan to make it on sunday for dinner! Thanks for the great idea!

candace said...

i was JUST thinking about this soup--yay! I am going to try it for sure.

Marques said...

I remember that Aggie Kitchen very well. Oh, the good ol' days. What fun we had!

Natalie | Make Today Great said...

BEST AGGIE KITCHEN EVER!! I am so glad you posted this!! I am so going to make this for Halloween weekend -- maybe the sunday after or something. I doesn't really get cold here, but I still want to cuddle!

Oh how I miss ATV!! I love that NONE of us went on to use our TV degrees in TV -- but on to better things :)

Aimee said...

Wow Jenny & Dallas, your blog is awesome! I love it. Mine is not so tricky, but we can maybe keep in touch better... www.francomfam.blogspot.com
PS How did you get the ".blogspot" off of your url??? I'm computer ignorant. :)

MEvans said...

The other day as I was thinking of fall dishes for this months menu, I thought, I really should call Jenny to get that pumpkin soup recipe from their halloween party! So glad you posted it! So yum. Tess

Heidi said...

Thank you, thank you. A thousand times thank you!

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh, Jenny, that is the most awesome thing! I love tea parties, as well as the witchiness of the theme! So much fun!