Skip to main content

Time for Pumpkin Soup + Pumpkin Ale at #BrewLV

In honor of the Desert Hops International Beer Festival at the Cosmopolitan this coming weekend, a select number of bloggers were asked to present their favorite beer and food pairings. Here's mine. 'tis the season. Pumpkin season that is.



It’s the time of year when “pumpkin spice” gets tossed into everything from a four dollar coffee confection to scratch-and-sniff stickers, and from every baked good imaginable to seasonal ales.

Don’t get me wrong, I am right there on the pumpkin wagon. One year I ate so much pumpkin that I had an allergic reaction. Dead serious. So, now, during pumpkin season, I limit my pumpkin culinary creations to one per week.


Almost all of my pumpkin creations begin with pumpkin puree. Don’t buy it in a can, please. If you can wield a knife and turn on your oven, you can make your own pumpkin puree. Making pumpkin puree couldn’t be simpler.

But being the savory gal that I am, when I start to see pumpkins in my High Ground Organics CSA box and at the farmers' markets, I think beer. Well, specifically, I think about steaming pumpkin soup with a kick-ass pumpkin ale.

So, when I saw two pumpkins in my CSA box last week, I knew it was time. I also had some intriguing duck bacon from Maple Leaf Farms Duck*, who was sponsoring an online event I was coordinating. I stirred in some fresh herbs from another event sponsor - Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices - and called it dinner.


Pumpkin + bacon + herbs = the perfect match for pumpkin ale! Woohoo.


I really wanted to call this a pumpkin 'bisque'; that sounds more sexy than pumpkin 'soup'. But then I did some reading and realized that you can't categorize something as a bisque unless it has fish stock as its base. So...this is pumpkin soup made with fresh pumpkin puree.





Ingredients

  • 12 ounces Maple Leaf Farms Duck bacon (or whatever bacon you have)
  • 1 T minced garlic
  • 3 C pumpkin puree (click to see how to make your own puree)
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 5 C organic chicken stock
  • 1 C beer (use whatever you have, I used Shipyard Brewing Company's Smashed Pumpkin - more on that below)
  • 1/4 C freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 t lemongrass, recommended Gourmet Garden 
  • 1/2 t ginger, recommended Gourmet Garden 
  • 1 T parsley, recommended Gourmet Garden 
  • 1 t basil, recommended Gourmet Garden 
  • 1 t cilantro, recommended Gourmet Garden 
  • freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 onion, trimmed and diced

Procedure
In a souppot, cook the bacon pieces along with the minced garlic until the bacon begins to brown but is not crispy.



Add the pumpkin, carrots, chicken stock, beer, orange juice, and herbs to the pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the soup begins to thicken. While the soup cooks, caramelize the onion in another pan. Once the soup is finished, stir in the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the caramelized onions.

Serve hot with slices of good bread. I love autumn!

About the beer...



Shipyard Brewing Company's Smashed Pumpkin was my beer of choice for this pot of soup. For a lighter ale, try their Pumpkinhead.

Smashed Pumpkin is a big, full-bodied beer with a surprisingly copper hue. It's actually orange!

It has an alluring aroma of pumpkin and spices such as nutmeg.

With three malts and a duo of hops, Smashed Pumpkin has delicate spice and the sweetness of fruit.

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else shares for their Desert Hops beer-food pairing. Cheers.

*DISCLOSURE: I received complimentary products from Maple Leaf Farms Duck and Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices for participating in an online blogging event #10DaysofTailgate. I was not compensated in any way – for my time, to create a recipe, or to publish positive comments. I was not required to use these products as part of my recipe. My opinions are my own.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce

Aloo Tiki {Pakistan}

To start off our Pakistani culinary adventure, I started us off with aloo tiki - potato cutlets. I'm always game for tasty street food. I found a couple of different recipes and incorporated those together for this version. Ingredients 6-8 small red potatoes, scrubbed 1 T cumin seeds 1 T fresh chopped parsley 1/2 t ground coriander 1 t minced garlic Procedure Boil the potatoes until they are tender. Drain and let cool. Mash the potatoes. Traditionally they are mashed without their skins. I left the skins on. In a small pan, toast the cumin seeds on high heat until the begin to give off an aroma and begin to darken. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate to keep them from cooking any more. Blend all of the spices into the mashed potatoes, then shape into small patties. If you wet your hands, the potato mixture won't stick to them. Heat a splash of oil in a large, flat-bottom pan. Dip each patty into beaten egg and carefully place in the oil. P

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love  is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir