This delicious soup represents the quintessential fall comfort food, with a little help from a locally-harvested pumpkin.
I created this soup at Marcus’ house when it was time to pull pumpkins from his family garden.He and I both like spicy, but you can control the heat by cutting the jalapeño to half and deseeding it or simply by leaving it on the side for individuals to decide how hot is hot.
Makes 4-6 servings.
1 lb shrimp, cleaned and peeled
1.5 cups fresh pumpkin puree
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
¼ green bell pepper, finely chopped
¼ red bell pepper, finely chopped
½ small zucchini, finely chopped
½ medium white onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
15 oz can lite unsweetened coconut milk
16 oz vegetable broth
3 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp kosher salt
1 jalapeño or red chile pepper, finely chopped
3 tbs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 350. Roast pumpkin for 1 hour or until soft. Remove skin and puree in a high-powered blender. I have a Vitamix and I love it! Clean and peel shrimp.
Lightly sauté carrot, celery, green and red bell peppers, zucchini and white onion.
In a separate bowl mix pumpkin puree, coconut milk, vegetable broth, raw jalapeno, brown sugar, ginger and salt. Add the pumpkin mix to the sautéed vegetables. Bring to a boil. Add the shrimp. Simmer for 10 minutes. Top with fresh uncooked jalapeño or red chile peppers and fresh cilantro.