Smoked Pumpkin Soup

Smoke this!

Today we have another pumpkin soup, but this time it's smoked. When was the last time you smoked a pumpkin? if your answer is never, then I think its time we change that. Smoked pumpkin is so much better, adds a lovely complex flavor to the subtle sweet pumpkin.

Coconut Cream Truffle butter pumpkin soup

M...eat...less

It always happens that the day I decide to cook soup is a cold and gloomy day. I had potato soup down to make but then I used the potatoes for dinner the day before. My mother had a pumpkin and I found some truffle butter in the refrigerator, a-las a recipe is born.

Jamaican Pepper Pot soup

M...eat...less

At most restaurants in Jamaica, these are your soup choices: pumpkin, pepper pot or red peas soup. All three of which are usually quite tasty. I almost never order the pepper pot soup, it’s an ok soup to me, but I will choose pumpkin soup all day every day. And while we make pumpkin soup and red pea’s soup at home all the time we hardly ever make pepper pot soup. Let’s face it, not many Jamaicans will take precious callaloo and make it into a soup, instead of sautéing it and eating it with fried dumpling and plantain. We surely don’t,  but today I have tried my best to recreate what I've been  eating all these years at restaurants…minus the ocra.

Pumpkin Carrot Soup

“Pumpkin Everythang”

Welcome to the third year of Octobers Pumpkin month. In 2013 you got the very delicious sophisticated and refined pumpkin leek soup, followed by the rich, flavorful and hearty Jamaican pumpkin chicken soup in 2014. Today I have stepped it up a notch. The most delicious vegan soup you will ever have!  I mean layer, after layer of flavor. One of the most delicious creamy style pumpkin soups I have ever made inspired by the most delicious soup I ever had at a whole foods market…did I say delicious enough?

Jamaican Fish tea

Something Smells Fishy...

Don't let the name fool you, this is not a sweet fishy tea, its just a soup! I always imagined fish tea came out of a need to use a left over commodity. Just like bread pudding reclaims slate bread, and chicken bones create stock. I feel that fish heads and other parts were used to make a soup so that they would not be “wasted” but that’s just my theory. There has never been a thing wrong with turning trash to treasure. And this soup is quite a treasure.

Jamaican Chicken Pumpkin Soup

“Pumpkin Everythang”

Pumpkin is such a widely used vegetable here in Jamaica; I’ve had pumpkin dumplings, fritters, rice, curry pumpkin, in steamed fish and foil roasted fish. You name it and pumpkin has been there. Now when it comes to soup, there is no way one can make any soup here, without the addition of pumpkin. It’s almost unheard of, an unwritten Jamaican rule. So much so that to make the task of having a pumpkin soup quicker a number of companies most notably Grace, makes a pumpkin soup sachet. The other day I saw a pumpkin and beef and a pumpkin and chicken flavor too; I chuckled.

Pumpkin Coconut Leek soup

"Pumpkin Everythang”

Like clockwork  the day I decided to make a lovely pumpkin soup here comes the rain, perfect timing. I had originally wanted to make a pumpkin wonton soup. However when I got to the grocery store they were all out of wonton skins, and ‘aint’ no way I’m making that dough from scratch, so plan B. A few isles down I spotted some leeks and figured, they probably taste like onions or scallions, so they should pair well with pumpkin, not to mention some coconut milk.