Recipe - Roasted Pumpkin Soup Wroasted Garlic And Black Pepper Crouton

3 pound Sugar pumpkin
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 Sprigs thyme
4 Cloves garlic
1 qt Chicken stock
Unsalted butter (optional)
4 sl Bread
2 tablespoon Melted butter

In response to a request for Cauliflower recipes, here goes (again, they
are from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Vegetable Cookbook):

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Split pumpkin and scrape out seeds and
pith. Oil the cut surfaces with olive oil, season generously with salt and
pepper. Place the halves cut side down on a baking sheet, with a sprig of
thyme and 2 unpeeled cloves of garlic tucked underneath each seed cavity.
Roast in the oven for 45 minutes or until completely tender. When it is
cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh or peel off the skins and add
the pulp to a soup pot along with the roasted garlic, squeezed out of its
skin. Mash them together, add the chicken stock and heat to a simmer.
Taste and correct the seasoning. For a richer soup, add a little butter at
this point. While the pumpkin is baking, make black pepper croutons. Cut
the slices of bread into One half inch cubes and toss them in the melted butter.
Salt them, then spread on a baking sheet and roast until brown and crisp;
generously grind black pepper over them as soon as you take them out of the
oven. Serves 4

Posted to FOODWINE Digest 30 October 96

Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 16:39:16 0800

From: Nancy Brandt Nancy.Brandt@UCOP.EDU