Continuing the month of soups on The Bite, today I am sharing something I whipped up using ingredients I had on hand – a non recipe of sorts. I have been reading Tamar Adlers BRILLIANT book, The Everlasting Meal, which is beautifully written and teaches home cooks some basics – to respect your ingredients, simply use what ya got, and never be wasteful. She eloquently shares tips on being thoughtful, intuitive and creative with quality ingredients while practically advising us to avoid tossing nutritious and delicious scraps… Broccoli stems make for a great stock and beet greens are delish when simply sautéed. With this sentiment in mind – I looked to the slew of veggies leftover from an ES shoot to make a soup. Pumpkin was sliced and thrown into the oven and instead of discarding the roasted garlic and shallot, I tossed them into the blender to infuse more flavor and depth. And since I am TRYING to not eat dairy these days, coconut milk injected a silky consistency without the use of creme. A crafty little swooner I was this week which resulted is quite the tasty and warming winter soup.
Roasted Pumpkin Coconut Soup
Pumpkin Coconut Soup
Athena CalderoneIngredients
1 winter squash – I used a Fairytale Pumpkin Squash
1 cup coconut milk – unsweetened
2 cups vegetable broth
1 whole head of garlic
1 -2 shallots
salt & pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
a few sprigs of sage
pepita seeds
Method
This is a bit of a non recipe. I used what I had on hand and made it up as I went along – most often this is the most creative way to cook!
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds. Continue to slice the pumpkin into 2 inch wedges.
Line a sheet pan with parchment and place your pumpkin wedges on the sheet pan. Drizzle generously with olive oil, salt and pepper.
For ease, I also placed a whole head of garlic and shallots cut in half onto a sheet pan, drizzle with EVOO for roasting.
** Roasting will brings out the natural sweetness of both the squash, garlic & shallot – adding depth to your soup.
Roast for approx 40 minutes – until very tender.
Once cool enough to handle scoop out the flesh and discard the skins. Squeeze out the individual bulbs of garlic from the skin – set aside.
Place the squash, broth, salt & pepper,and cayenne into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes so that flavors can meld.
Combine all ingredients with the coconut milk in a blender. Puree until silky smooth.
Toast some pepitas, chop fresh sage, and drizzle coconut creme to garnish.
