I was sent a copy of Alfons Schubeck’s The German Cookbook for review; this recipe from the book has been adapted slightly but is published here with their permission. This post contains affiliate links, meaning I’ll receive a tiny commission should you buy the book, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your continued support! (Read more about why I use affiliate links.)
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been asked for a German pumpkin soup recipe, so I’m very pleased to finally be able to share one. This one, from the brand new beautiful Phaidon tome, Alfons Schubecker’s The German Cookbook, is the very opposite of the sort of pumpkin soup I usually make: it isn’t thick and orange and rustic, but silky smooth, pale and glossy, thanks to copious amounts of butter and cream. The recipe involves a remarkably short list of ingredients and offers a very quick and simple method – no sweating of onions or measuring out of spices – so this particular German pumpkin soup would make for a very good autumnal dinner party starter or, if you work from home like I do, a luxurious treat for lunch.
Schubecker’s suggests using Musquée de Provence (or muscat) pumpkin, also known as a “fairytale” pumpkin because it’s the sort you probably imagine when you think of Cinderella’s fairy godmother magicking one into a horse-drawn carriage. It’s a pale brownish-orange pumpkin, rather broad and flat, and segmented with deep lobes. At markets in Germany, you can buy a chunk of a large pumpkin instead of a whole one (as you can with many other vegetables) in order to avoid waste. If that’s not possible where you are, you might want to choose a smaller pumpkin if you’re concerned you might not be able to use a whole one up. Musquée de Provence is a delicate-flavoured pumpkin that suits this particular soup well, bu if you can’t get hold of one, not to worry, any other (edible!) pumpkin will do.
German Pumpkin Soup (Serves 4)
Ingredients
600 g (1lb 5oz) Musquée de Provence pumpkin
750 ml (3 cups or 25 fl oz) chicken or vegetable stock
150 ml (2/3 cup or 5 oz) single cream
1 garlic clove, peeled
40 g (1.5 oz) cold butter, cut into chunks
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds with a spoon and cut the flesh into 1 cm (0.5 inch) dice. Add the the pumpkin and stock to a large pan, bring to the boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes, until the pumpkin is tender.
Add the cream and blend the soup with a stick (immersion) blender till no lumps remain. Add the garlic, allow to infuse for a few minutes, remove and discard.
Mix in the butter then season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot, with good bread.
