This recipe didn't sound like Harvest Pumpkin, but good nonetheless. And it promised an hour or so of solid kitchen time, which cheered me up considerably.
During the prep process, I also made a salad of arugula, half a Fuji apple, half a Bartlett pear, walnuts, some grated cheddar cheese and a sweet strawberry balsamic vinaigrette:
apple salad
Originally uploaded by Kit Pollard.
The soup itself wasn't difficult to make at all. The ingredients list is long (and I won't type it all out here, since its clearer in the link), but there were few things I actually had to buy.
I started by chopping 2 medium onions and cooking them in 2 tbs. of unsalted butter, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until they were soft (about 5 minutes):
pumpkin soup-step 1
Originally uploaded by Kit Pollard.
Once the onions were soft, I added the minced garlic (2 cloves) and minced fresh ginger (1 1/2 tsp.) and cooked and stirred for about a minute. Then came the spices: ground cumin (2 tsp), ground coriander (1 tsp), and ground cardamom (1/8 tsp). Again, I stirred and cooked for about a minute.
Then the big stuff: salt (1 1/2 tsp), hot red pepper flakes (3/4 tsp - I think I added more - it was HOT), 7 cups of water, 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, 1 (14-oz) can of unsweetened regular coconut milk and 2 (15-oz) cans of pumpkin (not pie filling):
pumpkin soup-step 2
Originally uploaded by Kit Pollard.
So far, the process was extremely gratifying - it was easy and smelled fantastic (thank you, onions and garlic and ginger) and I could see the soup coming together. My mood had already improved considerably. For the next thirty minutes, I let the soup simmer over medium/low heat, stirring it occasionally, while I set the table and finished the salad and checked my email.
After thirty minutes, it was time to stop emailing and start pureeing. I broke out my, um, vintage (read: ancient but reliable hand-me-down) blender and pureed the soup in smallish batches, transferring it to a big bowl as I went:
pumpkin soup-step4
Originally uploaded by Kit Pollard.
Once it was all blended and smooth (well, not that smooth, actually - I was a little impatient), I put it back in the pot to keep it warm. On to the last step.
Finally, I heated the olive oil in a skillet, over high heat, until it was very hot, then added the mustard seeds (the recipe says brown - I used yellow because I had them), cooked them for about 15 seconds, then added about a tsp of curry powder, and cooked it for five seconds, then added it all to the soup, with some additional salt. (The recipe says to use fresh curry leaves...but I didn't. Earlier that day, I talked with a lady at the curry stand at the farmers' market and she told me just to use curry powder - that it wouldn't make a difference. And curry leaves don't exactly grow on trees in Towson.)
And then...it was finished! My bad mood had practically disappeared - thank you, cooking therapy - and it was time for dinner. The salad was just about perfect, and the soup was very, very tasty, though also very spicy.
Last night, I froze a few servings of soup (it is filling - so this recipe makes a lot) and added some sauteed chicken to the leftovers for a new meal (also very good). I served that with a spinach, bacon and portabello salad dressed with a champagne and honey mustard dressing. I might have been a little heavy on the bacon (some trick-or-treaters did tell me my house smelled good, though), but really, who's to say what's "heavy" on bacon?
I think I might stick with the soup meme. Tonight: Jacques Pepin's onion soup. Bien!
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