Every culture seems to have its own way of celebrating squash. Years ago, when I was invited to assist the amazing Puerto Rican Chef Alfredo Ayala at Worlds of Flavor at the CIA San Antonio campus.
I spent the morning carefully preparing diced pumpkin and other mise en place for Puerto Rican Sofrito, Adobo & Habichuelas Guisadas (Bean Soup) Chef Ayala arrived in the kitchen with a paper bag of Ají dulce, (Rocotillo peppers) from Puerto Rico and the other Latin chefs went wild! When he came to greet me he tossed all of my pumpkin dice into the garbage, poured a few cups of rice onto the table and discussed how to peel garlic. He explained he had eaten this same, exact rice dish every day of his life and shared the pumpkin I had prepared was for Halloween; he needed butternut squash. I had told the procurement chef the same thing earlier but decided to keep that to myself… an absolutely amazing experience learning to cook pumpkin and rice with Chef Ayala, a true master!
Pumpkin Soup w Ras el Hanout
'I was born to cook... soup'... when I joined Campbell's, soup became a very important part of my culinary repertoire. It was a fascinating experience to work collaboratively with experts in marketing, consumer insights, food science, procurement and product development to cook millions of portions of soup regularly. This pumpkin soup recipe wasn't on the menu when I was with Campbell's, but it was a very popular choice at the St Andrew's Cafe when I was an instructor.at the CIA.
I often served curried pumpkin soup as one of the three soups in the soup sampler and the customers loved it!
I've become a fan of ras el hanout, a North African spice blend. I usually season lamb with ras el hanout and find the flavor delicious and interesting with pumpkin.
Prep Time: 30 min
Cooking Time: 60 min
Yield: 10 portions
Ingredients
3 Tbsp. Clarified Butter or canola oil
4 Tbsp Shallots sliced
1 Cup. Carrots, peeled and sliced
4 Cups Pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and sliced
4 Tbsp Ras el Hanout
1/4 tsp Ginger powder
3 qts Water
2 cups Apples, peeled and chopped
1 tsp Jalapeno, deseeded and slice thinly
t.t. Salt
t.t. Cayenne Pepper
1 Cup Coconut milk or Heavy cream
For the Garnish:
4 Tbsp Pumpkin seeds, sauteed or toasted
Red chili slices (pickled), optional
4 Tbsp. Yogurt
Cilantro pluches to garnish (rinsed)
How to prepare the Pumpkin Soup
Step 1
Gather the mise en place.
Step 2
Sweat the shallots in clarified butter, being careful not to brown the shallots. (about 3 minutes). Add the carrots and pumpkin and continue to sweat for an additional 5 minutes. Add the spices and toast with the vegetables for 3 more minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon to avoid scorching.
Peel and deseed the apples, dice the apples.
Add the water, apples and jalapeno pepper to the soup, simmer for 30 minutes, or until the ingredients are tender.
Step 3
Strain the soup, reserving the liquid to adjust the viscosity.
Add the strained pumpkin and vegetable blend to a blender and pulse until velvety smooth-you will need to add the cooking liquid to achieve the correct texture. Season to taste and serve in bowls with a teaspoon of yogurt on top and garnish of sliced, pickled jalapeno and cilantro pluche. (toasted pumpkin seeds on the side)
Step 4 optional
Add the coconut milk or cream and bring to a simmer; puree as noted in Step 3.
