Paleo Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Fried Sage
by lisa | 26 September 2014 08:54
Fresh sage from my garden
I have two sage plants that are producing huge amounts of sage. I love sage and have been using it a lot lately in all sorts of things. I absolutely love fried sage as a garnish to make dishes extra special, and truth be told, I have been known to eat a handful of fried sage as a little snack while I’m cooking.
I picked up this beautiful pumpkin from Jucker Farm recently figuring I would just make chunks of roast pumpkin with herbs. It’s a staple recipe around our house when squash season arrives.
Fresh from the farm
My plans changed with the arrival of some really dreary and rainy weather which had me wanting a comforting bowl of soup (or a very large glass of wine to drown my sorrows). I’ve made pumpkin soup loads of times, but I’ve never added fried sage to it before. I never usually measure anything and probably make it slightly different each time, but this time around I made an effort to write down what I did as I went along so that I could share it with you all.
Ready to roast
**A few notes on additions and substitutions. I used butter as my oil, but you could use ghee, coconut oil or any other oil you prefer. I used a pumpkin variety that is widely available here in Switzerland called an Oranger Knirps (I’m not 100% sure, but I think it might be very similar to kabocha squash). It’s bumpy and looks a bit different than the kind of pumpkin you carve for Halloween. It has a texture very similar to butternut squash (which you could easily use instead of pumpkin). I have no idea how well canned pumpkin would work because I’ve never tried it. I imagine the texture and taste might be different.
Soup is served
.
Ingredients
- Pumpkin. My pumpkin weighed 2 lbs 4oz (1020 grams) after it was seeded and roasted.
- 3 Tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed with a garlic press
- 2 Tablespoons fresh chopped sage (about 16 leaves) and few more whole leaves for garnish if you like
- 4-5 cups chicken stock or bone broth (I used homemade)
- 4 slices bacon, cooked and grumbled
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F/200C.
- Cut your pumpkin in half and remove the seeds. I cut it again into quarters after removing the seeds but you could also leave it in 2 halves. Rub the pumpkin with oil all over (on the skin and cut sides). I used bacon grease for this because I had just cooked some bacon. Lay your pumpkin on a baking tray cut side down and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove it and cool when done. This step can be done several hours or a day ahead. Once it's cool, remove the skin and roughly dice and the pumpkin flesh and set aside.
- Heat 2 Tablespoons of butter in a large soup pot.
- Add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes until soft and fragrant.
- Add in the diced roast pumpkin and stir.
- Now add in 4 cups of broth and stir. Reserve an extra cup of broth (or water) to add later if you feel your soup is too thick. Each pumpkin has a slightly different water content and your broth amount may be different than mine.
- Simmer for about 30 minutes (or longer if you like) covered and stirring occasionally.
- While your soup is simmering, heat the remaining Tablespoon of butter in a small pan and fry up the chopped fresh sage. It's done when it gets a bit crispy and starts to brown just a little.
- Just before adding the sage to the soup, blend the soup to your desired consistency with an immersion (stick) blender or a blender that can handle hot liquids. I left mine with a few little chunks because I like it that way.
- After blending the soup, stir in the fried sage.
- Add in the additional broth or some water if your soup is too thick.
- Salt and pepper to taste. I really didn't need to add salt because my broth was quite flavorful.
- Garnish with additional whole leaves of fried sage, crumbled bacon, toasted nuts (pine nuts, hazelnuts or pumpkin seeds), a dollop of cream or a spoon of pesto.
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