I had lots of beautiful pumpkins this year and we intend to eat every one of them! Cooked fresh pumpkin is a real treat; for chickens, dogs, and people. I’ve been told that to settle a dog’s upset stomach, give them a few spoonfuls of cooked pumpkin. It has worked well on our labradoodles after they’ve eaten “god know what” while “free-ranging” in the garden.
I’ve cooked and frozen some pumpkin pulp, but on Sunday, I made a hearty fresh pumpkin soup for guests. I doubled this recipe. The dish was so popular that I had only enough leftover for a bowl at lunch the following day. I’ll just have to make the soup again. Once the pumpkin was baked and pureed, it was simple to put together. If you don’t have fresh pumpkin, canned pumpkin will do and will save you lots of time. Here is the pumpkin soup that was a hit this last week.
Fresh Pumpkin Soup With Sausage
Serves 6
Prepare the fresh pumpkin by removing the seeds and pulp from the center of the pumpkin. Cut it into large pieces and lay the pieces skin-side-down on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and roast for about an hour at 350 degrees or until tender when pierced with a fork. Cool and scrape the peel from the meat of the pumpkin. You can purée the chunks in a blender with a little chicken broth or mash the pumpkin pieces with a potato masher. The soup will be pureed in the blender before adding the cream.
1/2 lb. spicy sausage (I used habanera but andouille or any spicy sausage would work). Remove casing and sauté chunks in 2 Tbls. olive oil.
Add 1 1/2 cups chopped onions and cook until clear (about 10 minutes).
Add 1 tsp. dried thyme and 1 tsp. cinnamon
Add 2 lbs. cooked pumpkin. This is about 4 cups. Canned pumpkin can be used.
Add 1/4 cup maple syrup
Add 6 cups chicken stock
Simmer all for about and hour.
In blender, purée soup in batches so that it doesn’t shoot up out of the blender. Return it to the pan and stir in 1/2 cup cream. Warm but do not boil. Serve immediately or let rest and warm again just before serving.
I served the soup with homemade croutons.
If made the day before, leave cream out until just before serving. The spices will have a chance to
meld.
This soup can be made with sweet potatoes. I intend to try it!
Enjoy!
