Few aromas say ‘The holidays are at hand!’ like pumpkin spice, and who doesn’t like bacon? It’s high time these two great flavors got together. Consider spicing up your holiday recipe staples with a savory bacon pumpkin soup to celebrate the harvest time.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
4 tablespoons Butter
1 Onion; chopped fine
8 oz Bacon; cut in to small pieces
1 Pie Pumpkin (3-4 lbs)
4 cups Chicken Stock
7 tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
3 tablespoons Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Black Pepper
Salt
Maple Syrup
Pare the pumpkin and cut into bite sized chunks.
In a large (2 qt), heavy pan, heat the oil with 2 tbsps butter on low heat. Once the butter has melted, add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook until soft, approximately 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Add 3 oz bacon and cook for approximately 5 minutes. Once the bacon has released its fat, increase the heat to medium and add the pumpkin chunks and chicken stock. Season with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover cook until the pumpkin chunks are fork tender; approximately 40 minutes. Add the heavy whipping cream, bring to a boil, then remove from the heat. Ladle out about half of the liquid from the pan into a bowl or large measuring cup. Blend the remaining mixture with an immersion blender until the pumpkin is velvety smooth, adding some of the liquid back into the pan you go until you reach your preferred consistency (add more liquid if you like a thinner broth; less if you like it creamier). Strain the soup through a fine sieve and set aside.
Melt the remaining butter in a skillet over a medium heat, add some fresh ground black pepper and fry the remaining the bacon until crispy. Divide the bacon into bowls, and pour in the pumpkin soup. Serve with a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of maple syrup.