Rosemary’s Rosemary Pumpkin Soup

Handing me a sticky note that read “Pumpkin (small), green onions, bread crumbs, gruyère, and broth,” Dr. Rosemary Peters offered me the most innovative Pumpkin Recipe to grace Pumpkin Week at Clearly Delicious: pumpkin soup served and cooked until warm and bubbly inside a pumpkin bowl.  Eating out of a pumpkin as a bowl? And, eating the pumpkin? My inner foodie’s interest was peaked by this easy, yet curiously constructed pumpkin soup.

Normally, when Dr. Rosemary Peters and I meet on Tuesday afternoons, we discuss the Marie Antoinette Romances by one Alexandre Dumas.  But this time–like most of my conversations–I couldn’t help raving about pumpkin week at Clearly Delicious and how excited I was to experiment with a variety of dishes.

Rosemary had the perfect dish for me–not your average pumpkin pureed soup, but a soup baked in a pumpkin as a bowl so that the pumpkin was steamed and cooked during the process, but sturdy enough to retain its shape.  The idea behind this cooking method is that the person eating the soup can dig into the pumpkin as they enjoy the broth.  The combination of steamed pumpkin and rich, flavorful broth is one that any foodie, or pumpkin fan might enjoy.

This recipe is perfect for lunch on a Saturday afternoon, or as a first course to a larger dinner party.  Not only is the pumpkin cute and adorable, but the resulting flavors and textures are perfect for this fall weather.

Rosemary’s Rosemary Pumpkin Soup

This recipe comes from a pumpkin-inspired experiment by Dr. Rosemary Peters last fall.  My version follows Rosemary’s post-it note ingredients list with a few additions: the original did not call for rosemary, nor parmesan.  I’ve added parmesan and rosemary in the photographed version below, but gruyère cheese would go fantastically here and other spice substitutions–thyme, oregano–would also compliment the soup.

Ingredients:

* 1 small baking pumpkin (sugar pumpkin), cap removed and seeds and fibers removed

* Broth (chicken, vegetable, or beef), enough to fill up the pumpkin

* Gruyere or Parmesan cheese, grated fine, to taste

* 2 green onions, finely chopped

* 1/3 cup bread crumbs

* rosemary, to taste (about 1-2 tablespoons)

* 1 teaspoon parsley, chopped fine

* 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

* salt & pepper, to taste

1.)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Prep ingredients: finely chop parsley, rosemary, and green onions.  Measure out bread crumbs and grated cheese.  Begin by prepping the pumpkin: remove the pumpkin stem/cap and scoop out excess fibrous filling and seeds.  You want the pumpkin to be “clean.”

2.)  Using your broth of choice (vegetable, beef, or chicken), fill up pumpkin to the top.

3.) Now, assemble the soup: add chopped parsley, bread crumbs, rosemary, green onions, and cheese on top.  Add salt & pepper to your taste preference (the more, the better in my opinion!).

4.) Place pumpkin with top on inside a circular baking sheet (I used a pie pan) and bake in oven for 45 minutes to an hour (or, until pumpkin appears to have softened and broth has reduced by a little more than 1/4).

5.) Remove pumpkin from oven and remove stem.  Allow to sit/cool for about 5 minutes.

6.) Serve with crusty french bread, and enjoy! Makes 1 serving, but recipe can easily be split by two people.

 

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This recipe was re-published for my “Fresh Ideas” Column for Louisiana’s state newspaper, The Advocate, on Thursday, October 29th, 2012.  You can read the reprint here.

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