Jack o Lantern Soup
Getting kids more interesting in food, and in cooking, in one of my personal goals. As a child, for some unknown reason, I had an affinity for cooking, and developing those skills has given me a lot over the years. I want my daughter to have the same. I want other kids to have the same. One of my strategies to ensure that, is to make food fun…and I show you one way to do that in this recipe video for “Jack-o-Lantern” soup. The soup itself is a very simple to make pumpkin soup. But at the end, I’ll show you how to decorate the soup with a jack-o-lantern face. This is the perfect soup for Halloween, and I make it every year. Each kid I’ve served the soup too has loved it, and of course, I love seeing them happy. It’s really easy to do, and you need no special equipment at all. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!
Recipe Overview and Keys to Success
To make the best Jack-o-Lantern Soup, make sure you pay attention to the following:
- Head over to my Pumpkin Soup recipe for the keys to making the soup itself taste great.
- If you happen to not to like pumpkin, you can absolutely do this with other soups as well, butternut squash would be great. You just need enough body in the soup to hold the sour cream on the surface
- The key to making the Jack-o-Lantern design is to make the whole in the plastic bag very small. That gives you more control, and a better looking design.
- 1 can unsweetened pumpkin puree
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 1 large stalk of celery, diced
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 6 - 7 sage leaves chopped
- 2 quarts chicken stock
- 1/4 cup cream
- 1 – 2 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- In a large soup pot, saute the onions, carrot, celery, pepper, and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until the onions are translucent; season with salt and pepper
- Add the thyme, and the pumpkin puree; season with salt and pepper
- Add the chicken stock and simmer until the carrots are tender
- Add the allspice and sage, and blend until the soup is smooth
- Add half the honey, and half the cream, blend again and taste
- If not sweet, or creamy enough for your tastes, add more of both/either. Re-season with salt and pepper if needed, and blend a final time.
- Now, to make the Jack-o-Lantern face, put a few tablespoons of sour cream into a small zip lock bag; then push the sour cream down into one corner
- Using scissors, snip a very tiny piece off the corner of the bag, so that you can squeeze the sour cream through; the smaller the whole the easier it will be to make the face
- Now, using light pressure, squeeze the sour cream out, making the classic triangle shapes for the two eye’s and the nose; then the jigsaw teeth
- You’ve got your Jack-o-Lantern
I’m sure better artists than I can come up with much fancier, creative designs…you can definitely make it your own, and I hope you enjoy the soup as much as I do!!
Wine Recommendation:For this, and many pureed soups, I’d recommend a champagne or sparkling wine. It both cuts through the rich soup, and the bubbles provide a nice contrast is “texture”. If you really want a still wine, I think a full bodied white wine like Chardonnay or Viognier would work well.
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