Spiced Pumpkin Soup
Spiced Pumpkin Soup with Crabmeat and Pumpkin Seeds
Excerpted from Flavorwalla by Floyd Cardoz (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2016.
From Floyd:
This longtime favorite at home served as my starting point for the more refined and very popular version we served at North End Grill. And at the other end of the elegance spectrum, I like to make a big batch of this for tailgates. I transfer the piping-hot soup to a thermos and as people arrive at the tailgate, I pour it over the crab in paper cups. It’s always good to have something to feed people to warm their hands, stomach, and spirit while we all wait for the grill to get hot.
Make sure to buy fresh or high-quality canned crabmeat from the refrigerated fish and shellfish section of your store. Don’t bother with the shelf-stable cans of crab sold alongside the canned tuna, which tastes more like the can it comes in than it does crab.
SERVES: 8
COOKING TIME: About 1 hour
NOTE: You can use any good eating pumpkin or winter squash you want here. Good choices are sugar, butter, cheese, or buttercup pumpkins and kabocha, Hubbard, or acorn squash. That said, try to avoid using butternut, even though it is ubiquitous, because it is the least interesting option.
INGREDIENTS:
3 quarts White Fish Stock, Chicken Stock, or high-quality store-bought stock, plus more if needed
3 tablespoons canola oil
1½ tablespoons coriander seeds
3 whole cloves
One 2-inch piece pasilla de Oaxaca or dried chipotle chile, cut lengthwise into thin strips
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups diced onions
2 cups sliced leeks (white and light green parts only)
1 cup diced peeled celery root
5 garlic cloves, smashed
One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin coins
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 cups cubed, peeled, and seeded pumpkin or other squash
Two 6-inch rosemary sprigs
Juice of 2 lemons, or as needed
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar, or as needed
¾ cup (about 8 ounces/227 grams) fresh or high-quality canned lump or jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over to remove shells
2 tablespoons mint leaves, stacked a few at a time and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons washed and dried cilantro leaves, stacked a few at a time and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons snipped chives
¼ cup roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
In a large saucepan, bring the stock to a simmer over medium heat. Keep warm over low heat.
Meanwhile, in a large stew pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the coriander seeds, cloves, and chile and toast until fragrant and lightly colored, about 1 minute.
Add the carrots, onions, leeks, celery root, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly colored, 10 to 15 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Add the cubed pumpkin and cook, stirring, until it is well coated with oil and beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Add the warm stock and rosemary, bring to a simmer, and cook until the pumpkin is very tender and the flavors are well blended, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove and discard the rosemary sprigs.
Use a spider or large slotted spoon to scoop out the solid ingredients and transfer them to a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth, adding as much of the liquid from the pot as is necessary to keep the mixture moving (be careful—it’s hot). Strain the puree and all of the remaining stock through a China cap or fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot, using a wooden spoon to push the soup through if necessary.
Heat the soup over low heat until hot; add more stock as necessary if the soup is too thick. Stir in the lemon juice and vinegar, then taste and stir in more lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and/or pepper as needed.
Put 1 1⁄2 tablespoons crabmeat into each of eight warmed soup plates. Ladle the warm soup into the bowls. Garnish with the herbs and pumpkin seeds and serve.
