Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Soup with Spiced Mascarpone and Bacon

By DrChef

Ingredients

• Topping:
• One 13 pounds (12″ diameter) “Long Island Cheese” pumpkin (can substitute 3 large butternut squashes or equivalent amount of other pumpkin)
• • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• • 1/2 pound butter
• • 3 apples, peeled and rough chopped
• • 2 large yellow onions, peeled and rough chopped
• • 2 medium carrots, peeled and rough chopped
• • 3 stalks celery, rough chopped
• • 1/2 cup fresh sage, rough chopped
• • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• • Small pinch of clove
• • 1/4 teaspoon of each: allspice and nutmeg (can substitute 1.5 teaspoons pumpkin spice for all spices)
• • Up to 2 quarts of either chicken stock or vegetable stock
• • 1 1/2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar
• • 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 2 C Marscapone mixed well with a pinch of each: cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg (can substitute pumpkin spice for all of the spices), a smidgen of cayenne and 1 tablespoon honey.
• 6 thick cut pieces of bacon, cut in strips and cooked down until crunchy.

Details

Servings 16
Adapted from yellowscene.com

Preparation

Step 1

Cut pumpkin/squash in half, remove the seeds, rub with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast cut side down for 1.5 hours at 350 degrees, or until a knife will easily slide through the flesh.

Add butter into a large pot and cook on low until it turns brown and smells nutty. Then add apples, onions, celery, carrots, sage and spices and sauté on low for 25 minutes until all vegetables are soft. Remove pumpkin/squash from oven, turn over and let cool a little. Scoop out flesh with large spoon and add to the other vegetables

Add 6 cups of stock and bring to a simmer. Finish seasoning with salt and pepper. Blend with an immersion blender (or with a conventional blender a few cups at a time) adding the cream slowly. More stock may need to be added to thin. Add sherry vinegar. The soup may be strained at this point through a chinoise or very fine strainer.

Serve topped with a dollop of cheese and a tablespoon of bacon.

Technique:
Roasting a whole pumpkin (or butternut squash) isn’t as difficult as one might assume; if you can carve a jack-o-lantern, you can roast a pumpkin. Using the largest knife you have (chef Alec uses a machete!) cut the pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds with a heavy metal spoon. Rub the inside and outside of the squash with olive oil; coating the outside will help prevent scorching. Salt and pepper the inside liberally and place on a heavy baking sheet, cut side down and roast until the flesh is soft. Easy!