I'm not a fan of pumpkin ...

... but I did enjoy what I made! Maybe there's some hope for pumpkinisms.

This summer, I failed miserably at getting around to making vichyssoise, aka potato leek soup. Now that the temps have dropped and fall is here, it's the perfect time for soup, warm/hot soup! I scoured the internet for a good recipe, didn't find one that I loved so I started with one that I came across from Alton Brown ... well very loosely.

You're going to need:

6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
4-6 leeks, cleaned, green leaves removed
1/2 large onion (yellow/spanish)
Half (or more if you wish) small pumpkin
Cream
Buttermilk
Salt
Pepper
Worcestershire sauce
Chives
Garlic
Garlic powder
Vegetable stock
Butter

Preheat oven to 425. Cut up pumpkin into chunks, you'll need to remove the rind, seeds, etc. Place onto cookie sheet, drizzle with some olive oil, garlic powder, pepper. Place into oven and roast pumpkin for about 20 mins. You'll need to turn the pieces.



Clean the leeks, remove the tops and then make sure to remove all the dirt and grit from the stalk, I just soak in a bowl of cold water, it should fall to the bottom. Cut leeks in half stem-length and then into smaller pieces. Set aside. Peel and cube potatoes, set aside.

In a saucepan, add in 3 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil, sweat the chopped leeks with 2 cloves crushed garlic, and chopped onion until tender/translucent.

Add in 5 cups vegetable stock to the sauteed leeks, turn heat down to low/simmer. Add in potatoes and let simmer covered for 20 mins.

Take roasted pumpkin and cut into cubes, similar in size to potatoes, add to rest of ingredients in saucepan.



Continue to simmer for another 30 mins, until a bit of the stock has burned off. Add in 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce. Salt & pepper to taste. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5 mins.

Place soup into a blender and blend until smooth. Add in 1 cup of buttermilk, 1 cup of cream, 3 tbsp butter. Blend until mixture is smooth. Serve while still hot, top with chives, or if you want to get crazy, some crumbled bacon.



I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was smooth, creamy, savory and delicious. It smelled like fall.