Roasted Pumpkin Soup and Curly Endive Salad
Last week, I made a Roasted Pumpkin Soup and a Chicory and Garlic Crouton Salad. I chose this meal for several reasons. First, my mom gave me an Asian pumpkin. Second, I needed to use up more of the leftover bread from Thanksgiving, which has been sitting in the freezer since. And lastly, I wanted to utilize the onion jam I made a couple of weeks ago.
The Roasted Pumpkin Soup recipe was adapted from from Chow.com. I substituted the sugar baby pumpkin with the Asian pumpkin, which is apparently much sweeter. To cut the sweetness, I added onion jam to the soup. I got the idea from a delicious butternut squash soup we had in the neighborhood. The newly opened restaurant, Hunter’s, added some kind of pickled fruit (maybe apple?) to their soup and I was blown away.
The Curly Endive and Garlic Crouton Salad was inspired by the recipe with the same name in Veggie Food, by Kay Scarlett. It’s a great vegetarian cookbook with beautiful photos accompanying each recipe. I took the liberty to swap some of the ingredients, simply to use what we had on hand. FYI, chicory is synonymous with curly endive, here in the States. I didn’t know this until earlier this year. And, I masked any freezer burn from the toast by rubbing it with garlic first and then olive oil. This method also transfers the garlic flavor better than cooking or baking the bread with it. I’ve only included the ingredients below because there isn’t too much to explain with a salad.
Roasted Pumpkin Soup
Total Time: 45 mins, plus 1-½ hrs roasting and cooling time
Makes: 6 to 8 servings
1 (4-pound) sugar baby pumpkin, cut in half and seeds removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup small-dice bacon
(about 3 slices)
½ cup small-dice shallots
(about 2 medium)
¼ cup white wine
2 cups stock or low-sodium
chicken broth
2 cups vegetable broth
1-½ teaspoons finely
chopped fresh thyme leaves
¼ cup heavy cream
1) Heat the oven to 375°F
and arrange a rack in the middle.
2) Rub the cut halves of the
pumpkin with the oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
3) Place on a baking sheet
cut-side up and roast until fragrant, tender when pierced with a fork, and
golden brown, about 70 minutes.
4) Remove from the oven and
let sit on the baking sheet until cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes.
5) Using a large spoon,
scoop out the flesh, place it in a medium bowl (you should have about 3 cups),
and set it aside.
6) Place the bacon in a
large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat and cook until
crispy and the fat is rendered, about 10 minutes.
7) Remove with a slotted
spoon to a small paper-towel-lined plate and set aside.
8) Add the shallots to the
bacon fat, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until softened, about 4
minutes.
9) Add the white wine and cook until reduced by
half, about 2 minutes.
10) Add the stock or broth, thyme, and reserved pumpkin and season with salt and pepper.
11) Stir to combine, then
bring to a simmer.
12) Reduce the heat to low
and simmer until the flavors have melded, about 10 minutes.
13) Using a blender, purée
the soup in batches until smooth, removing the small cap from the blender lid
(the pour lid) and covering the space with a kitchen towel (this allows steam
from the hot soup to escape and prevents the blender lid from popping off).
14) Place the blended soup
in a clean saucepan.
15) Stir in the cream and
season with salt and pepper as needed.
16) Serve garnished with the
reserved bacon and onion jam.
Curly Endive and
Garlic Crouton Salad
Serves
4-6
Vinaigrette:
1
shallot, finely chopped
1
tablespoon whole grain mustard
¼
cup apple cider vinegar
⅔
cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and
pepper, to taste
olive
oil
6 slices of
toast
4
garlic cloves, halved
1 head curly endive, washed and dried
1
cup walnuts, toasted
3-½
oz. feta cheese, crumbled