Cooking with Goodwin: Pumpkin Bisque

Felt like having something different today. Here's a recipe my mom came up with that tastes pretty decent (if you don't add too much spice. Like I did). It's a pumpkin bisque. Don't be put off by the "pumpkin" part, it tastes nothing like pumpkins.

Recipe and pictures follow after the break.

First off, grab some ingredients. You will need the following:

1 15-oz. can Pumpkin (do NOT get pumpkin pie filling. Make sure the only thing listed on the ingredients is Pumpkin)

1 quart Half & Half

4 cubes Low-Sodium Chicken or Beef Bullion cubes (I prefer chicken)

3-4 Tablespoons Minced Garlic

4 Green Onions or 1 Leek, Minced finely

Shaker Chicken Granules or Salt to taste  (found with bullion cubes in supermarket) (Salt works just fine, honestly)

1/2 tsp. ground Red Pepper

1 tsp. ground Coriander

2 tsp. ground Cumin

1 stick Butter

Not Pictured: Butter, Garlic, Bullion, Onions

First thing's first. You want to use a decently sized pot. Once you have one, melt the butter in it.

Screw your heart. If you use Margarine, you're the worst.

Once the butter's melted, turn the heat down. You don't HAVE to be on the lowest setting, but you better be pretty damn low. Throw in the Onions, Garlic, and Bullion Cubes.

Yay! Onions!

Yay! Cubes of Flavor!

Yay! Garlic death!

Spend the next 10 minutes stirring everything around, trying to crush the cubes with your spoon. Don't force them, or they will shoot out from the spoon and splash hot butter on my arms. I mean, your arms. Just keep stirring and crushing and mixing and crushing and stirring and cooking until the butter is a golden color and the cubes will all be crushed and mixed well.

Crush Crush Crush

*Homer Simpson Drool*

Once everything's mixed and the onions are tender (don't burn the garlic, you WILL go to Hell), it's time to add everything else. Let's start with... oh, I don't know, the entire quart of Half&Half!

Good... GOOD!

I can hear your heart screaming from here.

Next, some pumpkin! Straight from the can it was born in.

It has vitamins.

Add the spices! (note, do NOT add this much. I accidentally grabbed a half-tablespoon instead of a half-teaspoon. I repeat, do NOT add this much red pepper unless you love red pepper. Lucky for me, I do. But man, it was spicy.)

When my brain said 'That's a lot of pepper," I told it to shut up.

 Mix it all up. Lots of mixing. I actually cheated and used an immersion blender. Because I'm lazy.

Mix mix mix mix mix mix mix mix mix mix mix mix mix

 And that's it. Keep cooking it on a low heat until it's hot enough to serve. Don't let it boil, or the half&half will curdle and it will taste like ass. You will also probably cry since you spent forever cooking this on such a low setting. Add salt (or the chicken granules, I never really notice them adding flavor) to taste.

Tastes like awesome. And cayenne pepper. But still awesome.

And that's it for that. It has a strong garlic-flavor that rules, is relatively cheap to make if you have the spices already, and lasts a day or two (if you're single). I hope you folks like it. It'd probably be good with some toasted bread or something. I dunno.

SIMPLE VERSION OF RECIPE

1 15-oz. can Pumpkin (not pie filling)

1 quart Half & Half

4 cubes Low-Sodium Chicken or Beef Bullion cubes

3-4 Tablespoons Minced Garlic

4 Green Onions or 1 Leek, Minced finely

Shaker Chicken Granules or Salt to taste

1/2 tsp. ground Red Pepper (Cayenne)

1 tsp. ground Coriander

2 tsp. ground Cumin

1 stick Butter

On lowest setting, melt butter in large saucepan. Once melted, add onions, garlic, and bullion cubes. Stir them around, crushing cubes into the butter until onions are tender and cubes are dissolved and mixed into the butter. 

Add Half & Half, Pumpkin, Ground Coriander, Ground Cumin, and Red Pepper. Cook on a low heat, stirring often, until hot enough to serve. Do NOT let boil.