Roasted Pumpkin and Cumin Soup

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I might have mentioned before somewhere in the blog that I warmed up to soups later in life (I think it was on the lentil soup post). I don’t know exactly what the reason was, why I didn’t like soups very much. Maybe it was the fact that, living in a warm country, hot soups didn’t really appeal to me. I totally identified with Mafalda, Quino’s character and still a favorite, which I grew up reading. Mafalda despised sopa, soup, and many of her comic strips deal with this dislike.

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Soups are now one of my favorite autumn and winter meals. They can be smooth, purée-like, or they can be hearty, like a stew, but always broth-based. I’m not much for creams or cream-based soups, although I won’t turn away from a spicy seafood bisque. Again, my preference for stock-based soups might be due to my upbringing, since those are the soups that we ate most often at home. The Spanish cuisine doesn’t use cream that much, at least not the traditional cuisine. Things have evolved in the past few years, and Spanish cuisine has become very sophisticated, with many Spanish restaurants having Michelin stars, and topping the lists of best restaurants in the world.

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One of the favorite soups of my youth was what we called sopa mora, roughly translated to Moorish soup. The Spanish cuisine, particularly that of Andalusia, is greatly influenced by the cuisine of the moors, who left a mark in every area of Spanish life during the muslim domination of the Iberian Peninsula, which in the south, Andalusia, lasted from 811 until 1492 AD. Sopa mora was cooked at my aunt’s house in Ceuta (click here), and borrowed by my mom, who brought it to our house in Onteniente.

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You might remember my Thanksgiving table from the turkey tartlets post, and wonder where all those pumpkins that decorated it went. You’ll be glad to know that they’re being used, one recipe at a time! Today I customized the sopa mora recipe with pumpkin to make roasted pumpkin and cumin soup, and the result was delicious. I hope you like it.

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ROASTED PUMPKIN AND CUMIN SOUP

Sopa de Calabaza con Comino

Ingredients:
1 small pumpkin
1 head of garlic
1 medium onion
6 Tbs olive oil
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 tsp cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Tbs pumpkin or sunflower seeds (for garnish)

 

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Wash the pumpkin, cut it in half and remove the seeds and the fibers. Cut the pumpkin into slices and spread on an oven tray or roasting pan (I like to protect the tray with parchment paper). Peel the garlic cloves and place in a small bowl. Add 3 Tbs olive oil and pour the mixture over the pumpkin slices. Make sure all surfaces of the pumpkin slices are covered with oil. Place the tray in the oven and roast until soft and golden, about 50 minutes to 1 hour (you can add 1/4 cup water to the tray if the edges of the pumpkin slices begin to burn a little).

Slice the onion and sauté in 3 Tbs olive oil, making sure the onion becomes translucent but doesn’t brown.

When the pumpkin is baked and cool enough to handle, scrape off the pumpkin flesh and discard the peels. Place the pumpkin flesh, the garlic, and all the juices in a stock pot. Add the sauteed onion and half of the stock and purée with a hand blender (alternatively, you can use a standup blender, working in batches).

Add the cumin, season with salt and pepper, and stir to mix and incorporate. Add the remainder of the stock and stir. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer, for about 10 minutes.

To serve, garnish each bowl with a pinch of sunflower or pumpkin seeds, and serve with crusty baguette.

 

Roasted Pumpkin and Cumin Soup

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