Friday, October 09, 2009

An Epitaph and a Recipe


Gourmet magazine is going out of business. It's been news for a few days and I've been letting it sink in. I've been reading Gourmet my whole life. My earliest Gourmet memory occurs when I was in 4th grade. I was sick at home and I had a report due for class. I picked up an issue of Gourmet and poured over an article about traveling the English countryside, eating amazing delights. I wrote my report based on that reading. It was a seriously wonky report and it got a raised eyebrow from the teacher, but it started my love affair for this magazine. When I was a cooking professional, it was required reading. Now that I'm home cook, looking for quick but delicious recipes, Gourmet is still my companion. Over the past few years, they successfully transformed themselves from a more fussy (but beloved) read to a more user friendly (and still loved) magazine. My Grandmother and Mom read Gourmet back in the early days. My Mom, as a lovely sixteen year old, made the most amazing cream puffs she ever had after she came home from school, courtesy of Gourmet. Damn it! Don't go!

Sigh.

Well, I will post the curried pumpkin soup recipe that I spoke of the other day. I have to admit, it's not a Gourmet recipe; it is something I got in my email ages ago from my other object of cooking worship, Ms. Lynn Rosetto Kasper. She got it from Good Food for Good Times: Simple recipes for Sensational Celebrations by Jamie Gwen and Lana Sills. I have done a few minor, minor modifications (adding more pumpkin and curry)...

2 cans pureed pumpkin (14.5 cans, or one large can if you can find one). Not the pumpkin pie filling, but pumpkin puree. You will be using about 3 cups (a can and a half)

1 T olive oil

2 T butter

2 small pears, peeled, cored and diced

1 yellow onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 T curry powder (I often go up to 2 T, since I love the curry)

1/2 cup apple juice

6 cups of veggie/chicky broth (if you buy the 28 oz cartons, just use one carton and 2 cups of water)

1/3 c whipping cream or plain yogurt (depending if you are feeling virtuous or not)

salt and pepper.

Saute the onions in the olive oil and butter until transparent (over medium heat, about 10 minutes) in a big stock/soup pot. Add pears, garlic and curry powder and cook two minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Add the juice, picking up any little yummy brown bits that may have shown up in your pot. Add the 3 cups of pumpkin (a can and a half). Reserve the rest to make some pumpkin muffins. Add the broth as well. Reduce heat and simmer until the pears are soft (about a 1/2 hour). Puree soup in batches in a processor or blender, or with an immersion blender. Be careful when blending hot liquids! You can tuck it in the fridge at this point and finish it off with the cream or yogurt before reheating and serving. When reheating, do not boil. It also is quite tasty cold. Garnish with some green onion tops, sour cream or plain yogurt.

Off to the pumpkin patch this weekend! Enjoy your weekend, friends...

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Mmmmmmm... this sounds so tasty!! I'm going to buy the fixin's tonight. Thank you!

p.s. did you know my mom went to HS with Lynn Rosetto? They were friends too!

Katie said...

What a neat memory. I'm sorry it had to turn out this way.

Anonymous said...

I'm bummed too. I'll have to make this, it sounds delicious.