Soup In A Pumpkin

Part two of my pumpkin phase...soup baked in a pumpkin.

Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of soon-to-be-defunct Gourmet magazine, was recently interviewed on NPR's "Fresh Air." Terry Gross asked Reichl what some of her favorite cold weather foods were, and Reichl described making a soup in a pumpkin almost exactly like this one. Gross was skeptical about the soup, but I knew what Reichl was talking about.

Back in college, I briefly lived with two girls who I did not get along with. It seems like everyone goes through it - you are friends with someone, decide to be roomates, and find out that you are not at all compatible to share an apartment. They never wanted to eat anything that I made, including this soup. Granted, once the soup comes out of the gourd, it is not all that attractive. But it is difficult to resist its bubbly cheesiness and savory aroma.

I had written down this recipe long before I started blogging and crediting recipe ownership. I wish I could remember where I had found this recipe.

I included a picture of the pumpkin with the bottle of wine, to give you an idea of the size of a 6 lb pumpkin.


Soup In A Pumpkin
Source unknown

2 c fresh breadcrumbs
2 c minced onion
4 oz butter
A 5-6 lb pumpkin
1 c coarsely grated swiss cheese
½ c dry white wine
1 ½ qt chicken stock
½ tsp dried sage, or 2 tsp fresh chopped sage
1 c heavy cream
Handful of chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread crumbs on a baking sheet. Dry crumbs in the oven, about 10 minutes. Slowly cook onions in butter over medium heat until tender but not browned. Stir breadcrumbs into onions, and cook for 3 minutes. Heat chicken stock in a separate pan until simmering.

Increase oven temp to 400 degrees. Cut a neat hole out of the top of the pumpkin. Scrape out the insides. Rub inner walls of the pumpkin with butter. Turn the breadcrumb mixture into the pumpkin. Stir in the swiss cheese and white wine. Pour hot chicken stock in the cavity and fill to within 2 inches of the top. Season with salt, pepper, and sage. Place pumpkin in a baking dish. Bake pumpkin for 1 ½ hours, until the pumpkin has softened. Just before serving, gently stir in the heavy cream and chopped parsley. Ladle soup into hot bowls or mugs, scraping off some flesh from the inside of the pumpkin as you go.