Jack-O-Lantern Soup!

If you are feeling extra adventurous this turkey day, may I suggest taking a nod from BK and making your own creamy, luscious, local, pumpkin soup in it's own shell?

Jack-O-Lantern Soup

Scared? Don't be! Follow a few simple steps when making this lovely dish and your taste buds and dinner guests will fight over who gets to thank you first!


In order to get all of the pulpy goodness from this sugar pumpkin (yes, there is a difference. a sugar pumpkin has more flesh, is sweeter, and makes a lovely presentation piece) you should probably find a glass dish that fits the base of the pumpkin, for when you are scraping out the goodness from inside after it has been roasting for a while. That way you can finish the soup in a pot on the stove and then place it back in the pumpkin for serving. Totally not a fake out...it's as authentic as the fresh sage you use to garnish!

We served this for our big dinner last night and the complete silence was all the feedback I needed to know I had a winner. So go ahead, go pumpkin picking for a purpose this year! I promise you will thank me.

Now please excuse me while I lick my bowl...

Jack-O-Lantern Soup!

Jack-O-Lantern Soup, adapted from Barbara Kingsolvers' Pumpkin Soup in it's own Shell

1 five lb. pumpkin (if smaller or larger, adjust the amount of liquid)
Cut a lid off the top, scoop out the seeds and stringy parts, and rub the inside flesh with salt. Set the pumpkin on a large roasting pan.

1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
1 quart milk
1 cup whipping cream or heavy cream
½ cup fresh sage leaves (use less if dried)
2 cloves roasted garlic
2 tsp. sea salt
Pepper to taste
2 tsp. nutmeg

Roast garlic cloves whole in oven or covered pan on low heat, until soft. Fill pumpkin with all ingredients and bake at 375° for 1-1.5 hours, depending on the thickness of your pumpkin. Occasionally open lid and check with a spoon, carefully scraping some inside flesh into the hot liquid. Do not over scrape the inside or you will lose your beautiful tureen (but don't worry, nothing will ruin the incredible taste of this soup!)

When finished roasting, ladle out ingredients and whatever pumpkin can be easily scraped from inside the shell into a pot on the stove. Use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients, or just use a blender.

Return to the pumpkin shell and await the silence of success!

Optional garnish of sage leaves