I made some fun fall food purchases last week! Trader Joe’s had Brussel sprouts on the stalk- which I’ll post a simple recipe for later- and Sprouts had small pie pumpkins on sale. To be honest, I had never made anything with a real pumpkin. I’ve been using canned pumpkin for what seems like forever! But one time I tried using canned pumpkin for a soup recipe…and there’s no nice way to describe how that recipe turned out. My love of soups told me I had to try again, and this time with a real pumpkin. I put it off for a looooong time- I mean years- until these adorable little pumpkins showed up at Sprouts.
Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup:
1 small pie pumpkin, cut into 2” pieces
½ cup yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
½ can light coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon coconut oil for roasting pumpkin and sautéing onion
I will warn everyone out there that you’ll want a sharp knife for cutting the pumpkin. I cut mine in half, seeded it (saving seeds for roasting later), then cut into smaller pieces (about 2”x2”). After roasting, I allowed the pumpkin to cool off enough to remove the skin.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Place pumpkin on a lightly oiled, rimmed baking sheet. Brush pieces with coconut oil. Bake 25-35 minutes or until pumpkin is easily pierced with a fork. Allow to cool, remove peel.
While pumpkin is roasting, saute onion in a sauce pan with 1 tsp coconut oil until slightly browned. Add chicken broth and coconut milk to onions.
After you peel the pumpkin, place pieces in blender and cover with the onion, broth, coconut milk mixture. Add salt and pepper. Puree to desired consistency. Adjust seasonings to taste.
NOTE: I used a vitamix for this recipe so I was able to make my soup in one batch. If you have a traditional blender, you may want to puree smaller amounts.
This recipe has a lot of room for changes. Butternut squash can be used in place of pumpkin, red or white onion can be substituted for yellow, and vegetable broth can be used for vegetarians. If you like your soup a little sweeter, you can add ½ a green apple (cored and chopped). If you like a little more spice, you can add a pinch of curry powder or nutmeg. If you can’t stand coconut, you can use heavy cream- although I recommend not using dairy products as they tend to promote inflammation in the body. I would not say I’m a huge coconut fan usually, but I love the way this soup turned out!
doc in the kitchen 