Since this is a Sleepy Hollow recipe, I had a grand scheme to serve this soup in roasted pumpkin bowls. It would be a perfect nod to the headless horseman’s jack-o-lantern; plus, it would look seriously cool in the photos! Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Every single grocery store I visited in a 20-minute radius of my house sold out of pie pumpkins two weeks ago and won’t be getting any more this season. Ergh!!! So I shelved my dreams for the perfect Pinterest photo and bought a ceramic pumpkin bowl instead. Pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself…but I’m still considering retaking the photos next year when I can get real pumpkins again!
Dashed hopes of inspired plating aside, this recipe actually turned out really well. It’s a variation on the Milady de Winter Soup I made for my Three Musketeers menu. This time, I swapped the butternut squash for pumpkin, the red pepper for carrot and parsnip, the thyme for rosemary, and the store bought chicken stock for homemade. I liked it so much, I’m making another batch to freeze for after the baby is born in January!
A
Sleepy Hollow Smashed Pumpkin Soup
“The next morning the old horse was found without his saddle, and with the bridle under his feet, soberly cropping the grass at his master’s gate. Ichabod did not make his appearance at breakfast; dinner-hour came, but no Ichabod… In one part of the road leading to the church was found the saddle trampled in the dirt; the tracks of horses’ hoofs deeply dented in the road, and evidently at furious speed, were traced to the bridge, beyond which…was found the hat of the unfortunate Ichabod, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin. “
— The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 large parsnip
- 1 large carrot
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- 8 slices bacon
- 1 15-oz can pumpkin puree
- 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
- Optional Garnishes: Crumbled bacon, chopped green onion, sour cream
Makes 4 small bowls of pumpkin soup
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 400°. Peel and cut your parsnip and carrot into 1/2-inch cubes. Dice your onion. Combine in a medium bowl with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Stir until evenly coated. Spread the vegetable mix out evenly on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until the parsnip pieces are fork tender, stirring halfway through.
- While you wait for the vegetables to roast, chop your bacon into bits and fry it off in a medium saute pan.
- Add half your roasted vegetables to a food processor, along with half of your bacon, pumpkin, and chicken stock. Process on high until the desired consistency is reached (if you want it super velvety smooth, you may want to use a blender or immersion blender).
If it seems a little thick, feel free to add a little more chicken stock. - Transfer to a large soup pot and process your remaining ingredients until they reach the same consistency. Transfer to the soup pot as well. Place over medium heat until heated through, stirring occasionally.
- Transfer to serving bowls and top with desired garnishes.
Check out some of my other soup recipes!
Leave a Reply