Blazing Pumpkin Bisque
(singing)What do you do with the pumpkin carvings, what do you do with the pumpkin carvings earl-eye in the morning?(/singing)
OK, so now you know I can't sing. But the question remains. You have ... a pumpkin. You cut it open. You scoop out the innards. You cut a picture into it. You put a candle in it. You put it on the stoop. The neighborhood kids smash it. But I digress.
I made another Dent-O-Lantern™ for my dentist this year (I'll post the pic tomorrow). And in making the D-O-Ls, I don't cut the top out of the gourd, I cut off the bottom and use the stem as the nose. So I have a fairly decent-sized chunk of pumpkin cut off the bottom. I hate to waste things. So after separating out the seeds (gonna toast 'em after giving 'em a sprink of Old Bay - mmmm), I have about two cups of raw pumpkin. And this is what I did.
Pumpkin chunks in chicken stock, boiled until soft. About half of a red bell pepper, cut into a large dice and three, count 'em, three of my Biker Billy Jalapenos. The peppers go into the pumpkin and stock and given enough heat to bring the boil back. A teaspoon of sugar, a preliminary (i.e. light) salt and ground black pepper. Hit it hard with the stick blender to make a nice, smooth soup. Hmm. Looks good. But it's not done. It would be better as a cream soup. But I have no heavy cream. But I do have some sour cream. In fact, i have about 2/3 of a cup of "lite" sour cream.
A bit more of blending and it is done. Delicious and with three of the peppers - wonderfully hot. There you go: Blazin' Pumpkin Bisque. Throwing in a nice splat of butter would be nice but not really necessary if you don't want the extra calories.