Pumpkin Soup

Okay, before I piss everyone off irreparably, here’s something completely different: a nice recipe for pumpkin soup that I made up as I went along.  In the Netherlands a typical winter meal would be a stamppot: potatoes mashed with greens or carrots and a certain meat to match. My favorite was boerenkool stamppot: potatoes mashed with kale and with smoked sausage or diced bacon on top. Some people like it with gravy; I liked it with vinegar. Maybe I’ll do a post about stamppotten for you Yankees sometime.

But the Thanksgiving tradition, combined with distancing myself more and more from potatoes and bacon has made me discover a completely different kind of winter meal.

So here’s my super quick pumpkin soup that serves about six:

Ingredients:

Olive oil or sesame oil, 1 diced onion, 1 tablespoon minced garlic, lots of chopped leftover turkey, 1 29 oz. can of pumpkin, lots of cut leaves (beet greens, mustard greens, collard greens, kale, you get the idea), 1 can navy beans (witte bonen for you Dutchies) or chickpeas, salt, pepper, ground cardamom or garam masala or both, nutmeg, raisins or craisins, pecan pieces or pumkin seeds, sour cream.

Preparation (about 20 minutes):

Heat some oil in a pan, throw in the garlic and onion and stir for a minute or two. Add the chopped turkey and the spices. (I don’t do measurements when it comes to spices. Just live a little.) Stir some more. Add pumpkin, then fill the can with water and add it, too. Add the greens and raisins or craisins and stir. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add a big dollop of sour cream and mix it well. Spoon into bowls and add a small handful of pecan pieces to each bowl.

Enjoy!

Oh, and if you don’t like pumpkin soup, just use sweet potatoes instead.