Velvety Pumpkin Soup

It's a good thing this soup tastes so good.  Slicing, seeding and peeling a pumpkin is no small task.  I'm not gonna lie.  It's a royal pain in the patooty. At one point, as I was covered in sticky, orange strings and nursing a minor knife cut on my finger, I considered throwing in the towel and ordering pizza. 

I'm so glad I didn't.

Earlier in the week, my mom mailed me a handmade book of pumpkin recipes from an old Victoria magazine.  She's so good at "snail mail" and often sends me homemade cards and little surprises, just because.   I had a couple of pumpkins on hand from our CSA, Great Country Farms, so it was the perfect time to try out several pumpkin recipes.

I made a few recipes, including sweet and spicy toasted pumpkin seeds and a vegetarian chili with chunks of pumpkin.  Hands down, though, my favorite recipe was this pumpkin soup.

Once you get past the nasty peeling, seeding and slicing bit, the soup really is pretty simple.  You start by finely chopping the base flavors -- lots and lots of shallots and leeks.  These wonderfully mild onion-cousins (yes, I made that up...) are added to a large, heavy-bottomed pot with a few tablespoons of butter.   Sounds good already, right?

After the shallots and leeks have softened in the butter, add vegetable stock and then...forget about it.  Well, sort of.  The pumpkin simmers in the stock for about half an hour until it softens.  You'll just need to stir it a few times.  When the pumpkin is soft, toss it all into a blender to puree.  Better yet, if you have an immersion blender, you can puree it directly in the pot.

If you stopped there, you'd have a deliciously simple soup.  The recipe calls for adding a fancy shmancy wild mushroom garnish and an apple cider reduction.  I'm not a huge fan of wild mushrooms, so I made my garnish with crimini (baby portobello) mushrooms.  The cider reduction, mixed with cream, was fine, but I think not really necessary.  The cooked mushrooms added some nice textural contrast, but could be left out as well.  Whether you decide to go fancy shmancy or not, I think you'll really enjoy this velvety fall soup.

Here's the proof.

Corn Chowder

I really wish this photo did the chowder justice.   The green bits are fresh jalapeno - for a spicy twist.  

My return to work has reminded me that summer is, sadly, drawing to an end.  While I won't miss the excessive heat and humidity, I am going to miss entire days of doing whatever I please and, of course, the wonderful array of gorgeous produce that only comes around during these months of sweat and bad hair days.  Oh the vibrant reds and greens of summer veggies and berries the color of gemstones! And then there is sweet summer corn.

A bundt cake pan is the perfect tool for slicing the corn off the cob!  Just position the corn cob on the middle tube thingy (so technical) and, as you slice off the kernels, they'll fall into the pan.  ...Well, most of them will.  Only a few cheeky ones will hop onto your floor.

Sweet and simple -- corn is one of my favorite summer crops.   Lucky for me it's one of the most abundant summer veggies and one of the easiest to prepare.  I usually just boil it for a couple of minutes and eat it on the cob - no butter, no salt.   Just pure, sweet and tender corn.  So good.

Once the kernels are removed, the cobs are boiled with a little s + p to make a broth for the chowder.

Once or twice each summer I go for something a little more decadent.  OK, a lot more decadent.  I make summer corn chowder. The flavors in this soup are so simple, but utterly delicious.   Oh, and the smell while it's cooking!!  The essence of summer fills your senses...without the icky heat and humidity.

I discovered this recipe a few years ago in what is now one of my favorite cookbooks, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. (He also wrote How to Cook Everything).  I usually only buy cookbooks that are chock full of glossy photos.  This book is certainly an exception.  There are no photos, but this 1000+ page book contains an amazing array of recipes and illustrated "how to" guides.  If I only could have one cookbook, this one just might be my pick.

Here's the recipe.  Try this summer soup before the last of the sweet corn escapes...