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The pumpkin is a strikingly versatile vegetable, but this is not simply because of the large number of different varieties. There are many recipes, and as an appetizer we are giving two of them here - one is the classic "Cream of pumpkin soup", and the other is a "Potato and pumpkin roast".
Cream of pumpkin soup
There are hundreds of variants on this recipe - so there is nothing to stop you modifying it in any way that you please.
Ingredients for 4 servings: 500 g of pumpkin flesh (e.g. Hokkaido), two thick carrots, one onion, three tomatoes, one tub of cream, some butter. Herbs according to taste: vegetable stock, salt, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, curry, freshly ground parmesan.
Preparation: Chop the onion up finely and cook in the butter. Skin the tomatoes, cut them up into small pieces and add to the onion, leaving them for a short while to cook. Now dice the pumpkin flesh and the carrots, add them to the mix, and pour on one litre of water. Add the herbs as required, vegetable stock, salt, pepper and curry. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer on a medium heat for 15-20 minutes.
Then liquidise the mixture and pour on the cream, adding ginger and nutmeg according to taste. Finally sprinkle on the freshly ground parmesan. Enjoy!
Variants: One or two apples can be diced and cooked instead of tomatoes, and this gives the soup a fruity flavour. A very small shot of apple vinegar can also be added. One part of the pumpkin flesh can be replaced by diced potatoes.
Potato and pumpkin roast
Ingredients for 2 servings: 200 g of floury pumpkin flesh, 300 g of potatoes that go floury when cooked, one small leek or one medium onion, sea salt, pepper from a pepper mill, fresh thyme, 4-6 dessert spoons of extra virgin olive oil or clarified butter [ghee] / resolidified butter.
Preparation:Coarsely grate the pumpkin flesh. Peel the potatoes and coarsely grate them too. Wash the leek, slice longways and then cut into strips; or peel the onion and cut it into fine slices. Put all the ingredients together, and add salt and pepper to taste. Rub off the thyme leaves and stir them into the mixture.
Warm half of the olive oil or clarified butter in a heavy frying pan, preferably a cast-iron pan. Put in the potato and pumpkin mix, form it into a cake, and fry it for about 10 minutes on a low heat. Then turn the roast on to a board or a plate. Warm the rest of the olive oil, slide the roast cake back into the pan, and finish cooking it for about 10 minutes.
Tip:Serve with a seasonal mixed salad.
Further recipes
These and further recipes can be found in our »Grossen Buch vom Kürbis«, which can also be purchased in our Shop.
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