Coconut Pumpkin Soup

Sorry guys, I’m a day late with this post…it’s been a little busy!

It’s definitely fall up here in the big smoke; the weather went from 25°-30° C (77°-86° F) to 5°-10° C (41°-50° F). That’s chilly. Mind you, it would help if I started wearing socks in my shoes, I just can’t bear that claustrophobic feeling my tootsies get all confined in socks/shoes/boots. How about you, do you dread confining your dogs in socks and shoes?

This soup came about because I bought a couple of smallish pie pumpkins for social media; I actually carved a client’s logo into one of the pumpkins! It turned out really well and I had an entire pie pumpkin left over. Then I got two more social media clients (bittersweet, story to come) who sells Caribbean food and sauces so I was dying to try their organic coconut milk! I checked my dear friend Lorraine’s blog for an easy pumpkin roasting technique and a delicious starter was born for thanksgiving dinner. This soup would be lovely with butternut squash if pumpkins aren’t in season. I suggest smallish portions (125 mL or 1/2 c) because it’s quite rich.

Makes about 875 mL (3.5 cups) depending on how thick you wish to have it.

Ingredients:

• 1 small pumpkin, oven roasted
• 1/2 onion, oven roasted
• 2 cloves garlic, oven roasted
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 3/4 c coconut milk
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• Pinch of nutmeg

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 350° F (177° C). Prepare pumpkin as Lorraine does in this post. Lightly coat onions and garlic with the coconut oil. Roast until soft.
2. When Pumpkin is cooked through, onions and garlic are soft, add pumpkin flesh, onions and garlic to a blender contain with the vegetable stock, coconut milk, banana, curry powder, ginger and a pinch of nutmeg. Pulse blender until completely smooth. Set aside.
3. Minutes prior to serving, re heat soup and pulse in blender once more to ‘lighten’. Serve immediately.

The banana adds a very subtle flavour, try not to overdo it as it will overpower the soup.

Notes:

• Sadly cottage season is over and we’ve closed it down.
• The banana is an interesting undertone, omit if you don’t care for bananas.
• To have a lighter soup, don’t use full fat coconut milk or reduce the amount and replace the difference with skim milk.
• A seared scallop would be a wonderful garnish in this decadent soup.