International dishesSoupsEurope and North Americaabout 40 minutes
Italian style pumpkin soup with cream gives a bowl as smooth as velvet, sweet from the pumpkin itself. The difficulty is judging the thickness, since too thin tastes of nothing and too thick sits heavy in the throat.
Onion and celery go 5 to 7 minutes in the pan to draw out their sweetness before the pumpkin joins the pot. The cream only goes in close to serving, stirred gently and never brought to a rolling boil. Cooking the pumpkin until it collapses before blending is what makes the bowl truly smooth.
This batch weighs about 1.6kg, at roughly 55 calories per 100g.
Method
Peel the pumpkin and cut it into cubes, dice the onion and celery, and mince the garlic.
Set a pot over medium heat, warm 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil or butter, add the celery and onion, then lower the heat and stir for 5 to 7 minutes so nothing catches.
Add the pumpkin and garlic to the pot, pour in enough chicken broth to just cover, turn the heat up, skim the foam once it boils, then lower the heat, season with 2/3 teaspoon of salt and some pepper, and cook until the pumpkin collapses.
Blend the mixture smooth and return it to the pot. If it is too thick, add more broth; if too thin, raise the heat to reduce it.
Just before serving, stir in 50ml of cream and serve hot.
Tips
Cooking the onion and celery over low heat draws out their sweetness without scorching them.
Too thick calls for more broth, while too thin calls for a higher heat to drive off some liquid.
Canned green peas go in after blending so the peas stay whole and keep their green.
The cream goes in last, stirred gently and never brought to a rolling boil.
More from kOBE
The kOBE kitchen has over a thousand more recipes, plus Monk Fruit Blend and ready meals delivered.