# Cream of Pumpkin Soup served with Smoked Salmon



## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

I tried this soup the other day and it was a big hit. I am sure there are many things that can be done with this.

Cream Pumpkin Soup served with Smoked Salmon (from Centro)

4 cups chicken stock

1 small pumpkin (8 cups of peeled and diced pumpkin)

1 tsp sugar

¼ cup corn flour

¼ cold water

1 cup 35% cream

½ butter cubed

4 oz smoked salmon, cut in fine stripes

2 tbsp 35% cream

1 tbsp chopped fresh parley or chervil


In a saucepan, combine the chicken stock, diced pumpkin, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, and cook 20 minutes. Until pumpkin is soft.

Transfer mixture to a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth. Return mixture to saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl or cup, blend corn flour with the cold water. Whisk corn-flour mixture into soup until well combined. Return pan to heat, and simmer 2 minute. Whisk in 1 cup of cream ( 250 ml)

Transfer mixture to a blender; with motor running, add cubes of butter, a few at a time until all incorporated and soup is frothy and light. Strain through a mesh sieve.; season to taste.
To Serve: Reheat without boiling. Place equal amounts of salmon in the bottom of 4 soup bowls; ladle in soup. Using a squirt bottle or large spoon, drizzle the remaining 2 tbsp (30 ml) cream on top in an attractive design. Sprinkle with chervil or parsley

Recommended Wines: Pouilly fume, Henri Bourglois, Loire, Osborne Cream Sherry, Prato de Canzio, Az. Agr. Maculan, Veneto.

ps. 
FWIW . you can take the salmon and twirl it into a rose and set it on the soup with the parley & cream lines.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Thanks Chef Petals.  Looks great!

I always roast pumpkin before taking it off the skin.  Would that work here, or do you really need to cook it from raw in the stock?

BDL


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## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Chef BDL,

Thank you. 


May I say that for this soup in particular I have not roasted the pumpkin but I am sure it will work just as well , MAYBE even better .
The two flavors of this soup go hand in hand.

I will be trying your sauce this friday for  34 plates.. with veal chops
Vegetables : butter, garlic cloves, pearl onions, carros with tips, new potatoes, snow peas, green onions, salt pep, veal stock, grated parmasan cheese.
For the chop : butter and olive oil, garlic cloves, white wine, vela stock,  drop truffle oil. Your sauce will be swirled around the chop. Will make for good contrast of flavors.
Soup: roasted eggplant
App. tartare of venison with black truffle - papaya quenelles and chanterelle salad.
dessert: Warm truffle -centre chocolate ganache with Poire William Coulis.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

Wow! That sounds really good, Petals. Thanks for posting it. 

Incredible how many things pair well with pumpkin soup---apples, shrimp, wild mushrooms---the list goes on and on. 

I've tried them both ways---cooked in the liquid and roasted---in every version I've made, and have never found one that roast pumpkin doesn't work in. But, IMO, roasted adds a dimension of flavor missing in the boiled ones, so that's the way I usually go.


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## coulis-o (Jan 23, 2010)

no mirepoix, wine, or bouquet garni in the soup? not to mention the recipe has cornflour instead of using a roux, at least use a beurre manie...


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## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Matt,

Interesting comment, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

But not all soups created by Chefs need a mirepoix, a bouquet garni or a roux. Or rather , *not all soups *period need it but those that require it. May I suggest a few minutes to look at the career of Chef Marc Thuet ? He created so many fine dishes at Centro and from there well....he just continues to succeed. I have been privileged to learn from him. Here are some links to learn a little more about him and his style of cooking. FWIW his culinary contributions have not gone unnoticed, He attained his certification at the Lycee Hotelerie in Strasbourg and worked in many Michelin-rated restaurants and hotels in Europe.He has worked under the direction of master chef Anton Mosimann at the Dorchester Hotel in London. He worked at the Chateauneuf Rest. of the then Hilton Harbour Castle Hotel, Courtyard Cafe at the Windsor Arms Hotel , where he worked with Micahel Bonacini. Marc has also contributed recipes to the Niagara Estate Winery Cookbook, as well as to a special edition of the Canadian Living Cookbook.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Thuet

http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/...s-new-cookbook-coming-french-food-my-way.aspx

http://www.convictionrestaurant.com/

Suffice to say , I have presented a recipe from a skilled chef ,what he decided to put in it and how he chose to prepare it was of his own choice.
When i made this soup the other day ,, a few thoughts went through my head too, "Why not this? or why not that " but then I had to tell myself, "it is not my recipe". So I stayed true to the recipe and it was very good.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Compared to corn starch a wheat flour roux is assertive and pasty. More clarity, better sheen, and less starchiness would result from a corn starch slurry. And _beurre manie_ should mostly be reserved for emergency repair. In a soup like this it would taste, unsurprisingly, like uncooked flour.

BDL


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## coulis-o (Jan 23, 2010)

^ yes BDL, a soup thickened with beurre manie would taste of uncooked flour ... if it wasn't cooked out properly after the beurre manie was added.

Catherine i understand your perspective on this being a recipe from a well known professional chef and i too looked at the recipe and thought that a lot more could be done to it to improve the final soup dish as a whole.

Marc Thuet is currently doing a TV series called Conviction Kitchen and training 12 ex-convicts to run his kitchen. the pumpkin soup recipe is very simple and in my eyes it would be easier to train an ex-convict to make a soup using cornflour as its thickening agent than it is to teach an ex-convict how to make soup from a roux.

all points considered i have seen some of the most professional chefs make some of the most ridiculous dishes i have seen, just because they can and do, and they are not necessarily the best recipes overall.

take heston blumenthal for example in this video he makes meat disguised as fruit ... yeah he's a top chef and he thinks it's a great recipe idea, but who would want to eat bulls testicles disguised as a plum dish? yes this is a bit off topic but the point i am trying to make is that not everything a top chef does should be taken as the best example.






the pumpkin soup recipe would suit the cooking ability of an ex-convict because its easy to make and Thuet knows this; and Heston can put bulls testicles on his menu if he want to and disguise it as a plum dish, because he can.


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## petalsandcoco (Aug 25, 2009)

Coulis,

That Chef started a program to help people. I cannot speak for why or what that Chef does in his kitchen nor can I say that I even care, which I don't, it was merely an example.
As for Chef Heston (God love him ), if he wants to serve up some good old fashioned testicles as a "small surprise" , hey, what can I say ? My sister pulled the same stunt in Cyprus, my father has lived to speak about it and we are still laughing about it.

*BUT.....*
As for this poor, pathetic, miserable soup I posted, Ummm, Should it have needed a splash of white wine, some more seasoning, a sprinkle of this or a twinkle of that.....its all good. In the end......its just that........a soup. 
*Cream of Pumpkin Soup Served With Salmon..................R.I.P. 
........i'll be back with a tombstone.*


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