Middle-earth Menu: “Good Harvest Pumpkin Soup”

This party is such a large event, you’d need various courses to keep the dining momentum going. Today, I offer you a zesty vegetarian first course with enough curry flavor to knock your hobbity socks off. I’ll move to dinner items and complete the party with a cake. Now, if you happen to hate pumpkin, an excellent variation is to use 4 pounds of cauliflower (which is about 2 average heads). Remove the cores and cut into 1″ florets; keep everything else the same.

Please follow this link to my blog for the Savory Seasoning recipe! Or, I’ll make you a batch—head over to my Etsy Shop Elegant Sufficiencies and order your own: Savory Seasoning in a Jar or (the cheaper version) Savory Seasoning in a Ziploc Bag.

“Good Harvest Pumpkin Soup”

¼ cup salted butter

1 cup shallots, peeled and chopped

2 cups each, peeled and chopped:

onion

carrots

celery

2 quarts vegetable broth

3 cups pumpkin puree (fresh, or use a 28-ounce can)

4 teaspoons hot Madras curry powder

4 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon Savory Seasoning

Light sour cream, about 1 cup

Minced fresh chives, about 1 cup

Melt the butter over high heat in a 6-quart saucepan. Add the shallots, onion, carrots, and celery; sauté 5 minutes. Add the broth, pumpkin, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a medium/high heat and cook uncovered for 20-25 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Blend in batches to complete smoothness. Adjust seasonings, if desired. Garnish with dollops of sour cream and a sprinkling of chives, about a generous tablespoon of each will do. Cover and refrigerate leftovers. Serves 12 as an appetizer; 8 as a main course.

This is known by the same name in my current cookbook.

Astrid Tuttle Winegar is the author of Cooking for Halflings & Monsters: 111 Comfy, Cozy Recipes for Fantasy-Loving Souls, which is currently available exclusively in e-book form on the Amazon Kindle, but will soon be released by Oloris Publishing! Stay tuned for details. For now, she is mostly telling a culinary Middle-earth story here on Legendarium. Astrid has loved C. S. Lewis since childhood, J. R. R. Tolkien since middle and high school, all Star things, both Trek and Wars, all things Whedon, and many other things besides… She lives in the enchanted city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her husband and dog. She blogs occasionally at Cooking for Halflings & Monsters. You can check out (and like!) her Facebook page or visit (and follow!) her Twitter feed. Staff Reporter.