PUMPKIN SOUP SCENTED WITH CURRY

I’m not a fan of soups & co. In the menu of my house they have never been provided, except for the vegetable soup that periodically my grandmother forced us to eat. Which is the reason why I don’t have a great legacy of family recipes about it. I always thought that the soup is that particular dish that your grandmother handed down to you the recipe that her grandmother had taught her to turn. Since it is not my case, I decided to start the tradition. Mom fell in love with this silky, velvety, creamy pumpkin soup, and she hates the vegetable soups. So fans of soups come forward and tell me what do your thing, try it and let me know.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4)

For the soup:

• 2 kg of pumpkin (preferred those with tiny peel dark green, with deep yellow pasta, is the best I assure you. They have almost an aroma of chestnut … If you have not understood this king of pumpkin drive me crazy)
• 2 medium-sized leeks
• 400 gr. cannellini beans (I used those in a can, they’re are fine)
• Vegetable stock cube q.s. (preferably the organic one without glutamate)
• Curry q.s.
• Extra virgin olive oil q.s.

For the crounchy croutons:

• 4 slices of white bread
• Garlic cloves
• Extra virgin olive oil, salt, black pepper and paprika q.s.

For the cream cheese:

• 200 ml cooking cream
• 100 gr. taleggio cheese
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

Matching soundtrack: Thinking out loud, Ed Sheeran

PROCESS

It’s always nice to write a recipe for a soup,  just combine all ingredients, cover with water and you’re done. But now you’ve figured out that me and the normal things don’t go well together. So my soup will be cooked a little ‘different.

Start by cutting the pumpkin into pieces, remove the seeds and -Saint Patience- cut the peel. Cut the pumpkin into small pieces and set aside. Wash the leek and cut also this into slices, put in a stew pot with olive oil. After a few minutes add the pumpkin and the beans drained of their liquid. Now just mix all the vegetables and add the curry that will immediately begin to release its fragrance. Cover with a lid and keep mixed for half an hour, adding a little water if you see that the vegetables begin to attack. After half an hour at least, when the vegetables are well seasoned, you can cover with the vegetable stock and cook for another half hour at least. Once cooked, add a little oil, take your blender and blend with vertical movements, as if to “mount” the soup – believe me it will make a great difference.

Now you can move to the cream cheese. Quite simply: heat the cream, add in the bits of cheese and grated Parmesan. Melt and it’s ready. For the croutons just cut the slices of bread into small cubes, meanwhile heat some olive oil in a nonstick pan and add in the garlic and paprika. When oil is hot saute the bread until golden brown.

Finally, you can assemble the dish: the soup, a few laps in the middle of cream cheese, Parika crounchy croutons. Just to describe it I’ve got the mouth watering.

Photography: Sara Cartelli.
© The Eat Culture.