Pumpkin Tomato Soup
How to make a fine pumpkin-tomato soup in just 35 easy steps (this is a simple recipe that nevertheless makes a big mess and consumes lots of time; I believe it is a case of not having the right tool for the job; it is also an exercise in the law of diminishing returns as the vegetable matter cycles through a strainer time and again; in the end, you have a very tasty creamy soup without the cream):Step 1 - Saute a large onion in a 10-inch pot (size matters)
Step 2 - Add 3 cups chicken stock (homemade, just like your mother taught you, and if she didn't, then read this book by Crescent Dragonwagon...with a name like that, you've gotta know how to make your own stock, and probably raise your own chickens); simmer for 15 minutes Step 3 - Cook and puree 4 cups of pumpkin (here, you may cheat and used canned pumpkin, I don't think it makes as much difference as the stock; neither does Crescent...this is her recipe afterall)
Step 4 - Puree a 28 oz (or 29 oz if that's all you can find) can of whole tomatoes in their own juice
Step 5 - Strain the onions out of the stock and puree those
Step 6 - Combine all of the pureed items back into the broth and simmer for awhile until the flavors blend (about 30 minutes); add more stock if you're so inclined
Step 7 - Serve with a squeeze of pureed roasted red peppers on top of each serving (roast the peppers, peel them, puree them and store them in a squeeze bottle normally used for catsup, or ketchup)
OR Continue on...
Step 8 - Begin the odious task of pureeing the purees to make the soup smoother, for more refined tastes
Steps 9 - 34 (I am normally a neat freak):
The Process
(Multiple transfers of the soup from the pot to the strainer and back again, siphoning out the ultra smooth soup one drop at a time, then taking the "roughage" and recycling it back through again, and again, and again, until the roughage itself is quite smooth and reduced to only about a cup or two, as compared to the 3-4 cups of ultra smooth puree now back in the pot; in the end, you can add the smoother roughage to the ultra smooth contents, or you may opt to serve only the ultra smooth, refined soup, your choice)
Step 35 - Call in the clean-up crew (that would be me):
The Fallout
posted by Gwynne @ 8:45 PM
6 Comments:
looks yummy.....but i too hate cleanup...light a match!
Susie, I brought in a fire hose...it worked wonders. ;-)
go Martha! go Martha! go Martha!
Mmmm...looks yummy. :) I tend not to mind the cleanup (but yes, I realize I'm odd) - as long as the end result was worth it.
I see The Fallout and all I cna think is Start Soaking!!!.
Soaking. The Thinking Person's path to (eventually) clean dishes.
Emma, me and Martha might make good cellmates one day, but beyond that, we are worlds apart! Galaxies in fact.
Beth, I'll grant you that the clean-up part is therapeutic. I'm a clean as I go person, but the pumpkin soup outdid me here, as you can see. ;-)
Darko, I think it would be appropriate to substitute "Man" for "Person" in the above sentence. ;-) The normal conversation that takes place after my beloved husband takes a stab at dishwashing duty:
Me: Honey, will you be washing the pots also?
MBH: Uh, they have to soak for awhile. (this is code for, "Not unless my life depends on it")
Me: (much later, accompanied by a smile and an apron, just like Mrs. Cleaver) Alrighty then. I guess I'll just wash them myself.
(some of the above has been falsified to preserve my reputation as a "good wife")
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