I have to admit that when I was living in Estonia, the pumpkin was almost never on my menu. We mostly used to marinate it for the winter. Pickled/marinated pumpkin is often found on our tables on birthday parties and even on our Christmas dinner menu.
When I moved to Spain, I learned to eat pumpkin in soups. My mother-in-law cooks pumpkin and vegetable purée couple of times a month and always brings a serving or a two for us.
Today I’ll share with you a Pumpkin Bacon soup and it’s paleo compliant! This recipe comes from my co-worker’s mom. It’s really easy and needs just a few ingredients. I usually make a big batch and then freeze it. When unfreezing, the soup may look strange, but heat it through, give it a good stir and it will be perfect!
Ingredients
- 1,5kg pumpkin (peeled, deseeded and cut into small pieces)
- 1 medium onion (chopped)
- 1 medium red bell pepper (chopped)
- 150g bacon (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- black pepper
- nutmeg
- salt
- pumpkin seeds (optional)
Directions
- In a large pot add the chopped pumpkin pieces and cover with water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and let simmer 15-20 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender. Drain and let cool slightly.
- Whilst the pumpkin is cooking, heat a saucepan over medium heat and fry up the bacon. When it’s crispy, remove the bacon and drain. Set aside. Reserve a little bit of bacon for garnish. Save the bacon fat.
- Use 1-2 tablespoons of bacon fat and cook the bell pepper and onion over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook until it’s fragrant.
- Put all the ingredients in a food processor and purée the soup in batches until very smooth. You can also use a stick blender, but I find that food processor gives a smoother result.
- Return the soup to the pot and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
- Serve garnished with the reserved bacon and the pumpkin seeds.
