Pumpkin Soup w/ Gruyere cheese For this soup use Sugar pumpkins or Perfection squash - both are sweet and full-flavored without being stringy and watery. Delicata and butternut, though milder, are delicious. The stock is a simple one, using the seeds and scrapings of the pumpkin or squash, a few vegetables, and herbs. Stock Ingredients: seeds and scrapings from the pumpkin or squash 2 carrots, peeled and diced 1 celery stock, plus some leaves, chopped into small pieces 1 turnip, peeled and diced 2 bay leaves 1/2 tsp dried sage leaves or 5-6 fresh sage leaves 4 parsley branches 3 thyme branches 1/2 tsp salt 8 cups cold water Cut pumpkin or squash in half and scrape out all the seeds and stringy material with a large metal spoon. Put them in a pot with remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, simmer for 25 minutes, and then strain. Soup Ingredients: 1 pumpkin or squash (about 2.5 lbs), halved and scooped out 3 Tbsp butter 1 med yellow onion, diced into 1/4-inch pieces 1/2 tsp salt 6-7 cups stock 3/4 cup light cream white pepper 3 oz Gruyere cheese, finely grated thyme leaves, finely chopped, for garnish Preheat oven to 400F. Bake the pumpkin halves, skin up, on a lightly oiled baking sheet until the skin is wrinkled and the flesh is soft, about an hour. Remove them from the oven, and when cool enough to handle, peel off the skin. Reserve and carmelized juices that may collect in the pan. Melt butter in a soup pot, add the onion, and cook over medium heat fo about 5 minutes. Add the cooked pumpkin, the juices, if any, the salt, and about 6 cups of the stock. Bring to a boil; then simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Pass the soup through a food mill, which will smooth it out while leaving some texture. Return the soup to the pot and add the cream and more stock, if necessary to thin it. Taste for salt and seasoning. Add Freshly ground white pepper. Stir in the grated cheese and serve the soup with some thyme leave scattered over it. -from D. Madison & E.E. Brown "The Greens Cookbook", Bantam, 1987 ********************************************************************** Pumpkin Soup Ingredients: 4 cups chicken broth 1 onion, chopped 2 cups pumpkin 3/4 cups green onions, white part, chopped bay leaf 1/8 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp curry powder 2 cups milk 1/2 tsp sugar salt and pepper to taste Saute onions. Add other ingredients and cook uncovered 15 minutes. Puree. Add milk and cook another 5 minutes. Do not boil. -from: marianne@mencken.WV.TEK.COM ********************************************************************** Pumpkin Soup Ingredients: 1 med onion, chopped 1/4 cups butter 2 cups cooked mashed pumpkin 4 cups pumpkin cooking water 2 tsp chicken soup base 1 bay leaf 1/2 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp curry powder 1/8 tsp nutmeg 1 Tbsp dry parsley 1 cup milk 1 cup Half and Half 2 tsp salt fresh ground pepper to taste Saute onion in butter till golden. Stir in pumpkin, water, chicken base, bay leaf, sugar, curry, nutmeg and parsley. Bring to simmer and simmer uncovered 15 min., stirring occasionally. The recipe called for pureeing in batches in a blender or processor. I didn't do this -- it didn't need it IMHO. Add the Half and Half in a thin stream, stirring while adding. Add milk in the same manner. Add salt and pepper. Simmer 5-10 min. Notes: The original recipe called for 1 lg. onion, sliced, and 3/4 cup sliced scallions, white part only. It called for a 16 oz. can of pumpkin instead of cooking your own pumpkin. I cut off the peel of a volleyball sized pumpkin, scraped out the seeds, then cut the remaining stuff into approximately 1 inch cubes. I added water to about halfway up to the top of the cubes. I brought to a boil, then simmered slowly 45 min., stirring occasionally. I then removed the cooked cubes, reserving the cooking water. I mashed the cubes. To be honest, I didn't measure the pumpkin pulp or the pumpkin cooking water, but it looked to be the amount of pumpkin and water I mentioned above. The original recipe also called for 4 c. chicken broth in place of the pumpkin cooking water and chicken base. The recipe called for 2 c. half and half, but I loked it just fine with milk and half and half. -from Janet Morrissey (I found this recipe for savory pumpkin soup in the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph. I modified it somewhat. It turned out great!)