Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Bacon
It doesn’t happen very often, but every once in a while I get so overwhelmed by everything going on that I have a full blow meltdown.
We are talking about yelling, and freaking out, and tears, and if I’m really lucky, hyperventilation.
It usually happens when I’m a little under the weather and have WAY too much on my plate. A plate I totally served myself.
On Monday night, Albert and his girlfriend Samm were coming over for dinner to hang with the family, meet Wesley and eat my food.
Because I volunteered to cook.
Twenty minutes before leaving work after an insanely busy work day that followed an anything but restful weekend, I was on the precipice of disaster. I had no idea what to make for dinner, had not been to the store and I had no clue how I was going to wrap my head around the idea of making four dishes for dinner.
A rational person might just order pizza, pick up a six pack and call it a night.
But I’m irrational. So I called my mom and Wesley and yelled at them for not being helpful and telling me what they wanted for dinner.
I was staring a meltdown in the face when my mom volunteered to stop at the store for ingredients and Wes talked me off my very steep ledge.
That my friends, is love.
Somehow, I managed to get my act together and not only make dinner, but make an AWESOME dinner.
And you can go ahead and thank my friend Austin for this recipe because requested something pumpkin for the autumn.
If you do not like pumpkin pie, stop thinking you won’t like this soup.
It’s freaking awesome and I hate pumpkin pie. Think about this soup less as pumpkin and more about if a delicious roasted squash and bacon had a baby.
You will need…
1 medium pumpkin, about 4 pounds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 slices bacon, diced
1 large yellow onion, chopped
6 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup orange juice
Large pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F.
Halve the pumpkin from top to bottom.
Remove the seeds from the pumpkin and season the pumpkin flesh with olive oil, salt and pepper and place it cut side down, on an baking sheet.
Bake until the pumpkin can be easily skewered, about 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven and cool for about 20 minutes.
With a spoon scrape the pulp and reserve.
Discard the skin.
Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat.
Add the bacon and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and the bacon is just turning golden, about 7 minutes.
Add the pumpkin and stock and simmer until the pumpkin falls apart, about 30 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and let the soup cool for about 20 minutes.
With a hand emersion blender (available for about $35) or in batches in a blender, blend the mixture until it is completely creamy.
Add the cream, orange juice and nutmeg blend until completely mixed.
Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
If the soup is too thick, correct the consistency with additional water or stock.
Serve hot Hot HOT!
This bad boy just got approved for Thanksgiving dinner. With added bacon bits and chives as a topping of course.
Love and Beer Floats
Angela