Aromatic Pumpkin soup with Halibut

By chris5863

This holiday soup is a wower, first done on Iron Chef America by Chef Charles Clark, he shared his recipe with me and it was very impressive.

Ingredients

• SOUP
• 1 ½ T peanut oil
• 1 Cup diced onion
• 1 ½ t minced garlic
• 1 Cup thinly sliced carrot
• 2 Jalapenos finely chopped
• 2 Cups chicken stock
• 1 Can prepared pumpkin
• ½ t salt
• ½ t pepper
• ½ t fresh nutmeg
• HALIBUT
• 3 T EVOO
• 4 5 ounce Halibut filets skin removed
• 4 T chopped fresh time
• ½ t salt
• ½ t pepper
• 12 thin slices of pancetta cut into thirds
• AROMATICS
• 4 Cups boiling water
• 16 quarter sized slices of fresh ginger peeled
• 4 t ground cloves
• 4 t ground cinnamon

Details

Preparation time 120mins
Cooking time 130mins

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400 F
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, soften the onion and garlic. Once softened add the carrot, salt, pepper, nutmeg and chicken stock and cook until the vegetables are soft about fifteen minutes. Add the pumpkin meat and cook until hot. Remove from heat, using an immersion blender puree until smooth and return to a low heat to remain warm.
Place the pancetta into a hot skillet and cook until crispy and drain on paper towel. Season the top side of the halibut with the thyme, salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over high heat and add the EVOO, once hot sear the fillets seasoned side down for two minutes and flip for two more minutes. Remove to a Silpat lined baking sheet and place in the oven while the rest of the dish is prepared.
In a saucer place 1 t each ground clove and ground cinnamon along with four slices of ginger. In a soup bowl place one ladle of soup in the bowl. Remove the fish from the oven and float on fillet in each soup bowl. Place one fourth of the drained pancetta on each of the fillets.
Serve the bowls on the saucers and once plated add one cup of boiling water to the saucer to start the aromatics.