Maylee at Beyond Gumbo 
Soup in a pumpkin, when brought to a holiday meal table, makes a spectacular presentation. It’s a family favorite and we’ve made it many times over the years. It dates to the time when we looked forward on Sundays to getting the Washington Post newspaper in our mail box. The lastest world news was on the front page — no internet back in those days — we got the news from a newspaper!.
Each Sunday newspaper came with a Parade Magazine insert which we enjoyed just as much as the news. The Parade Magazine contained a food feature by some well known chef such as James Beard, Julia Child, The Silver Palate authors–Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins (my personal favorites). This was probably my first glimpse at gourmet cooking. The November 13, 1983, issue contained a very young-looking Julia Child preparing “Soup in a Pumpkin.” I still have the original copy of the Parade Magazine recipe.
We’ve made some adaptions to the “Soup in a Pumpkin” recipe to suit our needs over the years. My recipe contains much less butter then the original recipe and uses lower-fat cream. One year (around Christmas time) I had difficulty finding a pumpkin. Guess I waited too long. I went to every grocery store in the area, and finally the grocer at Whole Foods eventually came out from the back with an 16 lb pumpkin. It was too large and turned out to have very little flavor. But it was fun to make and we ate it anyway.
A 6 – 7 lb solid pumpkin is large enough. A handwritten note from my mother says “make sure the pumpkin fits in the oven.” Another hint is to watch the cooking. The pumpkin will turn dark, golden brown. You should smell the aroma of the pumpkin baking and a knife pierced at the top of the pumpkin into the lid should show the pumpkin it soft. The broth inside should be steamy. However, if cooked too long, the pumpkin will collapse. Really, that’s part of the merriment.
This is a very healthy soup. Pumpkin, of course, with it’s dark-orange pump is very nutritious and high in Vitamin A pre-cursors and other antioxidants. But, don’t let that stop you from thinking that this soup might not taste good — it is delicious! So, add something spectacular as well as full of nutrition to your holiday table this year.
Soup in a Pumpkin
Ingredients:
- medium pumpkin (6-7 lb)
- 3 Tbsp butter, divided
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- 2 quarts chicken broth
- 8 oz (2 cups) shredded Swiss cheese
- 1 dash black pepper
- 1/2 tgsp ground sage
- 1 cup half-and-half cream
- 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
- additional parsley (for garnish)
Method and Steps:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Be sure the pumpkin fits in your oven.
- Cut top off pumpkin (reserve top). Hollow out the seeds and pulp, rub inside, lid and cut edges with 2 Tbsp butter. Place pumpkin on rimmed baking sheet.
- In a small skillet, melt remaining 2 Tbsp butter. Add onion and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes until onion is tender and translucent. Do not brown onion, however, onion will not cook further in oven, so cook until raw taste of onions is gone.
- Add bread crumbs to onions, cook and stir several more minutes. Set aside.
- In a small pot, heat chicken broth until simmering. Pour into pumpkin to 1 inch from top.
- Add onions and bread crumb mixture to the broth. Add the graded Swiss cheese, season with a few sprinkles of black pepper and sage.
- Place the top back on the pumpkin, leaving slightly ajar for steam to escape. Place in oven and bake for 1-1/2 hours until pumpkin has just softened. Check pumpkin after 1 hour. Pumpkin will turn a golden, dark brown. You should smell the aroma of the pumpkin baking and it should be soft when the top is pierced with a knife. However, over-cooking will result in the pumpkin collapsing.
- Very carefully, remove pumpkin from oven and transfer to serving platter.
- Heat half-and-half cream to simmering, and very gently stir into pumpkin soup. Add chopped parsley.
- At table, ladle soup into soup bowls, scraping off some of the flesh from inside the pumpkin as you do so.
- Add a sprig of parsley for garnish.
NOTE: This family favorite is adapted from a recipe of Julia Child that appeared in: Parade Magazine, Washington Post, November 13, 1983. We have made it many times at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It makes a spectacular entry when properly cooked. We’ve had a few disasters, too. This year I could only locate a 16 lb pumpkin. I reccommend keeping a look-out for a smaller, sweeter one!
