Recipe: Carnival Cruise Line's Roasted Pumpkin Soup (another version)

CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE'S ROASTED PUMPKIN SOUP
Source: Terri Bakas, Lake St Charles
Date: November 16, 2002
Servings: 10

1 medium or large onion, quartered
1 leek, white part only, cut in chunks (4 oz)
6 cloves garlic
2 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil
7 cups chicken stock
1 (16-oz) can pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon chicken base, not bouillon
salt to taste (use caution, there is salt in the soup already)
1 1/4 cups heavy cream, plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Toss onions, leeks and garlic with oil in a bowl, then spread in a shallow roasting pan. Roast in the oven 45 to 60 minutes, until fragrant and browned. Puree in blender.

Bring stock, pumpkin, pureed vegetables and chicken base to boil. Simmer 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In separate pan, warm heavy cream, but do not boil. Remove soup from heat, and stir in heavy cream.

Cook's Note: If cooking with chicken base, read the label and use one that doesn't have salt as its first ingredient. Bouillon cubes are too salty to substitute. If you cannot find chicken paste, use powder, but you might have to use a little extra.

Terri's Note: This recipe originally served 850 people. It was reduced for the Tampa Tribune's Recipe Swap article to 10 servings by a health and nutrition agent at the Hillsborough County Cooperative Extension. Although this soup takes a while to make, it is really special and worth the effort. I just used our regular blender to puree the roasted vegetables and it did a great job.

I had never used "chicken base" before, but I found it at Publix in the aisle with the powdered soups and bouillon cubes. I bought "Superior Touch Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base" and it works very well.