Pumpkin and Miso Soup
What do you do when faced with three sugar pumpkins day-trip exported from the Hudson Valley's Adams Fair Acre Farms and only two are scheduled to become the star of a batch of quick breads and biscotti? After staring at a delightfully misshapen orange orb for half an hour Cafe Drake hit up on the idea of soup, but we didn't want any standard variety pumpkin soup (which truth be told tends to be watery and a bit bland). The recipe devised below is anything but underwhelming - thick and rich and safe for the vegetarians in your life.
Begin by slicing and seeding 1 medium sized pumpkin of any variety. Obviously kabocha, butternut and acorn squashes etc. would work as well but you may need to use more than one. In the end you're gonna want at least 2 cups of cooked squash. No need to peel.
Roast the pumpkin in wedges in a hot oven, around 400 degrees until very soft; this can take anywhere from 40-60 minutes or more depending on the size of the wedges and type of pumpkin used. Scrape all the flesh from the cooked wedges and set aside.
While roasting the pumpkin, saute in 2-3 T. of butter or olive oil in a large saucepan: 1 minced onion, 1/2 of a green bell pepper (minced) and a T. or to of fresh chopped ginger. You may also add 2-3 dried red chilies or a t. or more of cayenne if you like a bit of heat as we do.
Cook until the onion is browned then add the cooked pumpkin along with: 4 cups of vegetable stock or plain water, a T. of honey and some salt and black pepper to taste. Cook all over a low flame (basically at a light simmer) for 20 minutes or until beginning to thicken. Puree everything until smooth in a blender and return to the saucepan.
Take a ladle of soup from the pot and stir into it 2 T. of white (sometimes called blond) miso. Return to the pot and stir well. DO NOT allow the soup to ever return to a full boil lest you kill the beneficial live bacteria contained in miso paste.
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