Roasted pumpkin soup with apples and bacon
This soup has a very creamy consistency but is completely dairy-free except for the optional garnish of sour cream. Feel free to play around with the amount of carrot, onion or celery, garlic to your taste. This soup can be made the day before and reheated.
Ingredients
Serves: 12
- 1 medium pumpkin (about 1.5kg) peeled, seeded and chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 bacon rashers, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 6 stalks celery, chopped
- 6 carrots, chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 Granny Smith apple - peeled, cored, and cubed
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 250ml apple juice
- 1.5 litres chicken stock
- nutmeg and sour cream to serve (optional)
Directions
Preparation:40min ›
Cook:1hour ›
Ready in:1hour40min
- Preheat an oven to 190 degrees C. Drizzle the chopped pumpkin with olive oil; mix to coat; sprinkle with salt and pepper and spread it out into a single layer on a baking tray. Roast it in the preheated oven, turning once, until cooked 30 to 40 minutes.
- Place the bacon in a large pot and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon slices to a paper towel-lined plate; leave the fat in the pot. Chop the bacon when cool.
- Place the onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf, curry powder, thyme and salt and pepper in the pot; cook in the bacon fat until the carrots and celery are soft. Mix in the apples and the cooked pumpkin and cook another 5 minutes. Stir the garlic into the mixture and cook another 1 minute. Pour in the apple juice; reduce heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer; allow to reduce to about half its original volume. Stir in the chicken stock; simmer over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes.
- Puree the soup in small batches in a blender, or use a stick blender in the pot. If using a blender, don't fill the blender more than half-way. Always remove the centre lid piece of a blender when blending hot liquids so the steam can escape. Cover the hole with a dish cloth while blending. Stir the nutmeg and most of the bacon into the soup. Garnish each bowl with 1 tablespoon of sour cream (if desired) and some of the bacon pieces to serve.
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Reviews and Ratings
Global Ratings:
(131)
Reviews in English (99)
This soup is a little labor-intensive, but completely worth the time and effort. I didn't follow the directions exactly. I blended the bacon in with the vegetables, rather than using it just for the drippings and as a garnish. I added a little olive oil to the pan when sauteeing the celery and carrot. My partner can't eat onions so I omitted that and I don't miss it. I added nutmeg to the mix rather than as a garnish. I didn't strictly follow the timing of cooking the celery, apples, garlic, etc. because I was going to boil it down over several hours. This thick, creamy, comforting soup has a bouquet of flavors. The squash, then the bacon, then the apple, then the curry and spices and celery and carrot and garlic bloom on your tongue. Marvelous and complex. This soup could sell for $8/bowl in a snazzy restaurant. It's amazing! I'm serving it tonight with a garlic/cheddar/mozzarella/parmesan bread and pomegranate juice and some vanilla yogurt drizzled with melted seedless blackberry jam. - 18 Feb 2009 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
This was actually quite excellent and well worth the effort. This has a rich blend of flavors that will catch peoples' attention, yet is also somehow simple enough that my kids went back for seconds and thirds - something that almost never happens. A few notes: (1) I did not have apple cider onhand so used 3 cups of unsweetened applesauce with a touch of cinnamon instead and it came out great (I'll be curious to see if it's better/worse with cider next time); (2) I doubled the curry and still barely noticed it so would recommend others do the same; (3) if you use microwave steam bags for the squash you can avoid using the oven and can get it cooked in 6 minutes, shaving some time off the overall prep time; and (4) definitely blend this... we're a family that likes chunky soups and I read the review suggesting to leave it chunky (I used a potato masher instead of blender) and the result was everyone in the family opting to stick theirs in the blender. This does not make a great chunky soup in my opinion, but is restaurant-quality as a blended soup. This was truly excellent and the best thing we've made out of over 20 top-rated recipes from this site. - 11 Sep 2009 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
I made exactly as the recipe stated. Way too vinegary for my family. Other than that I think it has the potential to be a good soup. If I ever made again I would considerably cut the vinegar. - 13 Oct 2011 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)