Pumpkin Soup

Ah yes, going far back now on the Zelda timeline to Skyward Sword for this one! Pumpkin Soup, in the bottle, direct from The Lumpy Pumpkin in the Sky and cooling, fast!


As it appears in Skyward Sword

In reality, a Thermos would really help retain the heat. I can imagine this invigorating soup coming in handy after a day of romping through fallen leaves in the forest for a lovely BotW Akkala photo shoot (yes, I realise I'm mixing timelines. I don't care. It's all Zelda, and it's all good!).


But where did I get this almost perfect glass bottle from, you ask? Have I got good news for you - it's cheap, it's accessible, and there's probably one not too far from you.... IKEA! :) Our IKEA even ships to home addresses (and not just giant furniture, but small stuff like this!). Wonderful!

Ingredients:


Roasted pumpkin (leftover from Pumpkin Stew, made in turn with leftovers from Meat-Stuffed Pumpkins) - approximately 1.5 cups / 400mL of it (or more!)
Vegetable or chicken stock (bouillon) cube
About 1L of water
A big pinch of saffron
2 tsp of nutmeg
various other spices (all of which are optional, and should be added in very small quantities, i.e. 1/4 tsp or less, or to your liking! But go easy on these or your soup will taste suspiciously of pumpkin pie: ginger, ground cloves, cinnamon, white (or black) pepper, cardamom).
Ricotta cheese (I added all 250g from a small tub, and wish I had scaled that back quite a bit... start with 125g and see how you like it!)
Creme Fraiche (or sour cream, or leftover ricotta) to serve
(I used a sage leaf for a garnish in the photos below)

Leftover from Pumpkin Stew, which was made with leftovers from Meat-Stuffed Pumpkins. Pumpkin-efficiency!
The spices can vary, but don't skip out on the nutmeg (goes awesome with both pumpkin and the ricotta cheese!) or the saffron (adds colour as well as delicate flavour)
Yeah, this isn't a low fat soup. Sorry.

Directions:


Crumble up your stock cube, add your roasted pumpkin (sans peel), some of the hot water (half or less) and mash it all together until relatively smooth (you'll blend it later, so perfection is not required at this step). Add the rest of the water and bring to the boil. Stir in the saffron and nutmeg, and then whatever other trace flavours you want to add (go easy!). Reduce heat to a simmer and let it cook for about 15 minutes, to release the colour and flavour out of the saffron and the spices. Remove from the heat and let the pot cool for another 5 to 10 minutes.


 (Fish out any rogue bits of pumpkin skin that evaded earlier capture)

Blend in batches in a blender or processor, or just submerge the good ol' submersion blender into the pot and have at 'er (gotta get one of those!). Then blend in the ricotta (I added the entire tub... I think it was too much! Depends how well you like ricotta, though!).



Serve, or use a funnel to get it into a bottle... holding a full glass bottle of hot pumpkin soup isn't very comfortable, btw. Further proof of Link's incredible toughness!

Troubleshooting - for ORANGER pumpkin soup:
  • Use roasted Butternut Squash or another deeply orange or reddish-fleshed squash instead of pumpkin (or in addition to). Obviously the pumpkins will vary in colour, too.
  • You could also include carrots in this (roasted and pureed would be tasty!) 
  • Leave out the ricotta (vegan option!) - see the photos above for how the addition of ricotta really made it beige.. :(
  • A few drops of red food dye.... I definitely didn't have any handy, or I totally would have used this trick!
 

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