Pumpkin Soup with Gruyere Cheese

Pungent Gruyere meets its match in a vegetable-heavy pumpkin soup. Because it melts easily, Gruyere is often sprinkled atop soup; see what it can do for your pumpkin soup!

Ingredients

• 1 pumpkin or squash, halved and scooped out
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups stock
• 1 cup light cream
• white pepper, to taste
• 3 ounces Gruyere cheese, finely grated
• thyme leaves for garnish, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• seeds and scrapings from the pumpkin or squash
• 1 stalk celery, chopped into small pieces
• 1 turnip, peeled and diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 fresh sage leaves
• 4 parsley branches
• 3 thyme branches
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 cups cold water

Instructions

1. Cut pumpkin or squash in half and scrape out all the seeds and stringy material with a large metal spoon. Put them in a pot with remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, simmer for 25 minutes, and then strain.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the pumpkin halves, skin up, on a lightly oiled baking sheet until the skin is wrinkled and the flesh is soft, about an hour. Remove them from the oven, and when cool enough to handle, peel off the skin. Reserve and carmelized juices that may collect in the pan.

3. Melt butter in a soup pot, add the onion, and cook over medium heat fo about 5 minutes. Add the cooked pumpkin, the juices, if any, the salt, and about 6 cups of the stock. Bring to a boil; then simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.

4. Pass the soup through a food mill, which will smooth it out while leaving some texture. Return the soup to the pot and add the cream and more stock, if necessary to thin it. Taste for salt and seasoning. Add Freshly ground white pepper. Stir in the grated cheese and serve the soup with some thyme leave scattered over it.

Notes

See this recipe and more in 55 Awesome Pumpkin Recipes.