#15: Pumpkin Bisque

Don't you just love that dollop of cream on top?
Thank you http://www.olivecocomag.com for
the tantalizing photo!

Okay fine, it's really just pumpkin soup. Bisque just sounds more expensive. :-D

A  very good friend of mine hate our featured ingredient today: pumpkin or what we Pinoys commonly call kalabasa. The mere mention of kalabasa as part of her meal will make her stick out her tongue. Maybe because her only idea of kalabasa dishes are Pinakbet  and Guinataang Gulay (Vegetables in Coconut Milk). But I take pride in the fact that I was able to make her enjoy kalabasa through this hearty soup. She liked it so much she requests for it every now and then if she’s ever gonna visit our place. When we have this in our home, I just eat a big bowl of this filling soup with 4 pices of buttered toasts (although that is not a very good diet option, is it? Wheat bread perhaps?) and I’m good for lunch. Even my almost-2-year-old loves her rice to be swimming in this soup. Come to think of it, this is one tasty way of having your children get that beta-carotene in their diet.

One of the things I love about this recipe is that the ingredients are very simple, in fact you can count them in your two hands. There’s only a catch. You will need a blender. In case you don’t have one, just borrow that unused blender from your cousin or your brother. Just make sure you share a serving of you new creation so he will be motivated to loan you his kitchen appliance again. :-D

This soup stores well in the fridge for three days so long as it does not get contaminated. This pairs well with Crispy Fried Tilapia (oh yeah!) or any fried dish for that matter. So let’s get to it so you’ll be on your way again to creating another restaurant dish right in the cozy comforts of your own home.

Pumpkin Soup (or Pumpkin Bisque if you feel a little swankier) 

Sosy level: 4

Pawis level: 3

Featured Ingredient: Pumpkin

Will warm 6 tummies

Ingredients:

2 tbsps butter or margarine

4 cloves garlic minced

1 large onion (white is preferred)

4 segments kalabasa, chopped into small pieces

4 cups chicken broth

6 tbsps powdered milk dissolved in 1/3 cup of water

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup cream

Spring onions or curly parley chopped (as garnish)

How to:

1. Heat up a casserole then melt the butter. Saute the onions until soft then add the garlic.
2. When the garlic is soft, add the chopped kalabasa and sauté. If you want to peel the kalabasa is up to you. Peeling it will make the soup more polished and elegant. Leaving the skin on will give it a rustic appeal, a new level of texture and more nutrients and fiber (now that is such a fine excuse if you feel lazy like me every now and then, haha!). Saute until the kalabasa is half-cooked (that is when the sides have changed color and has gotten a bit soft), about 4 minutes.
3. Add the 3 cups of the chicken broth and bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer. Cover the pot partly to get things going faster. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until the kalabasa is already soft but not yet mushy.
4. Turn off the heat and let it cool for a minute or two. Then get your blender pitcher and fish out the pumpkins from the pot with a ladle into the pitcher. Make sure you add a bit of the broth in the pitcher to help the blender do its pureeing job better.
5. Puree the pumpkins to a smooth consistency.

TIP or Warning: Make sure that your blender is not sealed so tight that there won’t be a vent for the hot air. Allowing hot air to escape will prevent pressure to build up and make your dish into an orange mini-bomb. We don’t want this to be a painful or messy experience. :-D

6. Return the pureed mixture into the rest of the broth and stir to make an even consistency. Turn on the heat again until it reaches a gentle simmer. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper according to taste. Don’t dump the pitcher in the sink yet! We still have some use for that.
7. In the Cheap Household Gourmet, we want to make sure that we use everything up. I’m sure you’ll notice that a lot of the thick pumpkin puree stuck to our pitcher, right? What we do is we get our milk powder mixture and the remaining cup of chicken broth and we  pour them both in the blender pitcher. We close it tightly this time and give it a good, hard shake. Then pour the milk mixture (with the rest of the washed down pumpkin puree) into the simmering pot. Stir until the milk is well incorporated.
8. Check seasoning one last time and adjust if needed. If you think the soup is still too thin for your taste, just dissolve 2 tbsps of flour into ¼ cup of water. Add this little by little to your soup while stirring until you reach your desired thickness.
9. Add the cream then turn off heat. Stir gently to incorporate the cream.

Now you you don’t just get 6 itty-bitty cup servings here. You six medium-sized bowl servings here(and that means each one gets more soup! Yehey!). This goes best with (again) buttered toasts, crackers or a nice leafy salad. But of course, if you have a full meal ahead of you, you may serve them in smaller bowls as an appetizer. . For added effect, top it with a dollop of cream and then sprinkle some spring onions on top.

Oh my, writing about this makes me want to cook this again. How about tomorrow? Hmmm…