All things pumpkin...
Sharon BooyIt is pumpkin season, and this year, I found myself wading into the pumpkin patch so to speak.
Pumpkin is so versatile and with so many varieties other than what we use for Halloween decorations... I couldn't seem to resist the shapes, colours and all those potential tastes, both sweet and savoury.
One beautiful blue pumpkin made a silky soup with ginger, coconut and lime. The blue hubbard I roasted and made several gorgeous pumpkin pies (as promised to the farmer I got it from). Another blue pumpkin went into soup again, but this time with Thai green curry and a little orange pie pumpkin. That blue pumpkin was so generous that I will be cooking some up with garlic for dinner tonight - Trinidadian style. The Japanese Kuri was a pretty little orange thing and I'm still dreaming about what to make with the gorgeous Chirimen Kabocha pumpkin I have.
After tempting you with all those delicious pumpkin thoughts, I should share a soup recipe that is bound to please. It's so simple to whip up and it will comfort and satisfy on a crisp fall day. You don't need much of anything special in the house - other than a pumpkin or winter squash! The red lentils add a heartiness and protein that really make this satisfying and curried pumpkin seeds are so good, they may not make it onto the soup.
Enjoy.
Pumpkin or Squash Soup with Curried Pumpkin seeds.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Makes 8 servings
1 tbsp (15 mL) extra virgin olive or coconut oil
1 cooking onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced
6 cups (3 L) peeled and cubed butternut squash or pumpkin
1 large apple, peeled, cored and cubed
1/2 cup (125 mL) red lentils
6 cups (1.5 L) water or vegetable stock
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste
Place a soup pot over medium heat.
Once pot is warm add oil, then onion, garlic and carrot.
Sweat (cook without adding colour) until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
Add squash or pumpkin and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
Add apple, lentils, water or stock and salt, cover and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 20 - 30 minutes.
Once cooked, remove from heat.
Blend soup, either using an immersion blender, or in a blender – processing in batches.
Add lemon juice to taste
Serve garnished with curried toasted pumpkin seeds.
Curried Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Remove seeds from squash or pumpkin when cleaning and soak in warm water.
Rub seeds to remove squash from them, then place on a dry towel and pat dry.
Place seeds on baking sheet.
Toss seeds with 1 tsp (5 mL) olive oil and 1 tsp (5 mL) curry powder.
Toast in oven approximately 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant.
Remove from oven, sprinkle a pinch of salt over seeds and cool on baking sheet.
