I am aware that it is mid-November and I am posting a pumpkin soup recipe. Better late then never! Pumpkins are in season (highest in nutritional value) right now, and you can still find some pumpkins around.
Did you know that over one BILLION pounds of pumpkins end up in landfills after Halloween every year in the US alone? (Couldn’t find Canadian stats.)  Yes, the type of pumpkins used for Halloween carving are more bitter then the usual smaller cooking pumpkins, used for pies. But it’s pretty crazy how wasteful it is to use food as ornaments and then dump them. Save the seeds and roast them with sea salt and vinegar for an amazing salty snack! If coconut isn’t your jam, make pumpkin puree and add it to oatmeal or pancakes.  Try legit pumpkin spice smoothies, with real pumpkin, not a flavoured syrup full of science project chemicals.   (I’ll include these recipes ASAP.)

The cilantro oil makes a large batch. I freeze leftovers in cubes and pop them out for stir fries, Thai dishes, sauce for white fish or shrimp, on chili, or even to put into other soups.  I freeze so, so many things in cubes for quick, convenient, homemade meals.  Coconut milk does not come in one cup portions, so you can add the leftovers to a smoothie, make yoghurt or freeze in cubes.

Making your own bone broth is the extra bit of love that goes into making a warm soup.  The health benefits of bone broth are endless, and delicious!  I’ll be adding broth recipes soon!

Pumpkin Soup

• One previously loved Halloween pumpkin
• 4-5 shallots (or substitute a white onion)
• 2 tbsp ghee or butter
• 3 cups approximately of chicken bone broth or chicken stock, you made yourself (or substitute vegetable stock)
• 1 cup of full fat coconut milk
• 2-3 tbsp of red Thai curry paste (Available in Asian grocery stores) depending on how hot you want it (Recipe for the best tasting red and green Thai curry sauce is coming)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. In a large soup pot sauté your shallots and garlic in ghee on medium heat until translucent. 5-7 minutes.
2. Cut your Halloween pumpkin into quarters and peel the skin. Chop into cubes once peeled.
3. Add cubed pumpkin to soup pot and pour in just enough broth to cover the pumpkin. You might not need all the stock, depending on how big your pumpkin is.
4. Simmer on low heat until pumpkin is super soft, about 15-20 min. The smaller you chopped your pumpkin, the quicker it will cook.
5. Puree the soup. You can use a hand-held blender, but a stand blender is much more efficient. You might need to do it in two batches.
6. Add the soup back to the pot and add coconut milk, and Thai curry paste
7. If you want more heat, add more curry paste.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Drizzle with Cilantro oil (recipe below)

Cilantro oil

• One bunch of cilantro
• Olive oil
• pinch of sea salt and pepper
• juice of half a lime

Steps:

1. Wash and chop cilantro, stems and all. Stems have just as much flavour as the leaves so don’t waste them. Cut off the dirty root bits and discard.
2. Put lime juice, salt and pepper in blender with cilantro. Turn on blender and add olive oil until the cilantro oil is fully blended and smooth. I used just over a 1/2 cup of oil.  You can use more oil, if your want to dilute the cilantro taste. This oil is super cilantro, because I love cilantro!