Jack-o-Lantern Potage

 Welcome back, Dungeon Meshi Maniacs. And may I say "Thank You" as well?  Why am I thanking you when all you did was randomly click on a link provided on a cut rate social media platform?  Simple!  Remember nearly a month ago when I asked, begged and pleaded for you to wait as I skipped a recipe because the core ingredient wasn't in stock?  To my surprise you did just that!  I only had a marginal increase in bad reviews which is great!  Your patience has paid off, DMM's, because this week is really special.  Are you feeling a chill in the air?  Need some soup to warm dem bones?  Pull up a chair and pull out a spoon, DMM's.  It's time for Jack-o-Lantern Potage!

That's right!  It's time to eat one of the more infamous "monsters" in all of Dungeon Meshi.  I put monsters in quotes because it's not really a monster.  I guess in theory it could be a male dryad but that would be just silly.  No, it's just a pumpkin with a funny face.  It doesn't even talk or more or anything!  Laios just picks up a whole pile by himself!

I love how enthusiastic he gets over weird things.  I mean, pumpkins you don't even have to cut to get an award winning face on for Halloween?  Sign me up!  Of course, not everyone is thrilled with this find.

 To difficult to eat something so handsome, Marcille?  Speaking of pumpkins and more specifically jack-o-lanterns has reminded me of the various jack-o-lanterns we have carved here at Meshi HQ.  I have no photographic proof that this occurred so you'll have to just believe me, DMMs.  Years ago the talented artist who I also live with and am married to discovered the trick of soaking a roll of toilet paper in some kerosene, putting it into a jack-o-lantern and using that to create a massive flame effect!  What did they do with this knowledge?  Carve a really cool Charizard with its mouth open and pointed up.  The resulting flames that spewed from the top of the jack-o-lantern made it look like Charizard was breathing tons of fire!  Such a great work though maybe a bit dangerous?  Who cares!  It was Halloween!

Thanks for bearing with me as I took that detour, DMMs.  I'm not a real Halloween fan but even I love a good jack-o-lantern.  Which leads me to this week's recipe.  Pumpkin soup isn't something to really get excited about, is it?  It's not bad but it's everywhere!  What would make this any different from any other soup we've already made?  Easy.  We are cooking this soup INSIDE of the pumpkin!

   That's right!  We take a normal, everyday, garden variety pumpkin and make it a caldron!  Don't believe me?  Oh yea of little faith.  Do like me and grab a pumpkin.  Unlike last month, they should be everywhere by now.

There we go!  That's the stuff.  "But wait, you slippery slime. Where's the face!?" I can hear you put into a mojo fax machine and send to Jack Skellington.  Good question, DMMs.  We can't put a face on the pumpkin for a couple of reasons.  If we carve a face the soup will just fall out.  This is going into the oven at a high temp for a long time so drawing a face could be a bad idea.  And we can't even poke Mr. Potato Head pieces on and remove before cooking because it could leave tiny holes!  So normal pumpkin it will have to be.  What?  We all don't live in a magic dungeon!  What you are going to do is take the top off and get as many seeds out as you can.

You don't have to do a total gut scrape like you would if you planned on carving this pumpkin.  No, just get as many seeds out as you can.  The insides will cook with the soup and lend a pumpkin flavor.  Now you can roast the seeds later but that's a different blog.  Consult your local recipe house for more information!  Now that you have de-seeded the pumpkin take a bit of butter and just rub it all over the insides.  Not a whole lot, maybe a tablespoon or so.  When you're done it's time to make the soup.  First make room in your oven for the pumpkin.  Remember, this thing is huge so chances are you'll need to remove a rack.  Preheat to 400 and gather your ingredients.  What all is going into ours?

Simple stuff for a simple soup!  Half an onion, flour, Italian bread crumbs, and some italian sausage.  I had to go with the mild style as it was all my store had.  But if you want bolder flavors feel free to go with something fancier!  Now to start you'll want to melt half a cup of butter and one tablespoon in a pan.  Want a visual on that, DMMs? 

That is a WHOLE STICK of butter along with a little extra!  This is going to be one buttery soup, DMMs!  Once that is nice and melted put in your chopped onions.  I left mine a little chunky since that's what I like in a soup but feel free to chop as fine as you want!  Seriously, go nuts!

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  This is one of my favorite smells, DMM's.  I just love onions as they cook.  You really just want these to soften up a little.  Once that's finished DUMP a cup and a half of the bread crumbs, a cup of flour and I added some Fennel Seeds for fun. What?  Cooking is all about fun surprises, DMMs.  You don't have to use Fennel Seeds if you don't want to. I think they would give the soup a little more texture is all. Now stir this all together!

Sandy!  Luckily we are going to soak this in some liquid soon.  But first dump all this into the pumpkin.  Now for the sausage.  I originally just added the sausage to the pumpkin at this point thinking it would cook in the pumpkin.  I WAS WRONG!  The sausage didn't cook at all.  It was still salvageable, I just took the sausage out, cooked it and then put it back into the soup.  But to save you that hassle maybe brown it up a little then add it to the pumpkin.  Next add four quarts of chicken stock and the MVP of the dish....CHEESE!

Ah, yeah!  That's the stuff.  Now if you have access to fancier cheese feel free to use it.  I went with pre-shredded cheese because I'm lazy.  You'll add a cup and a half of the cheddar and a cup of the swiss to the pumpkin.  Add as much pepper and salt as you want and give it all a good stir.

Okay, not looking too good so far.  But that's where the magic of heat comes in!  We are going to put the "lid" of this pumpkin back on and put it in the pre heated oven for an hour and a half.  Fun fact about my pumpkin is even after taking one of the racks out it still didn't fit.  I had to carve the root down a little!

Now act like a scary witch in the woods and lock that in.  Once it gets close to finishing it's time to kick the creaminess into high gear by using an old friend.  Come on down, Heavy Cream!

Warm a cup of this up in a small pot to about a simmer.  Once the hour and a half is done take the pumpkin out of the oven.  BE CAREFUL.  This thing is hot and heavy, DMMs.

Now you can kind of see why I didn't want to draw a face.  The poor pumpkin has seen better days.  It's still in good shape though and has soup inside!  Add that simmering heavy cream to the soup and stir.  That's all it takes, DMMs!  

This turned out so good.  The pumpkin flavor blended well with everything inside.  It goes great with any crust bread or even more cheese if you're feeling adventurous.  You can't beat a good soup, DMM's!  Especially one that is cooked in its own container. 

Thankfully the real pumpkins aren't as disturbing.  Unless you want to make them that way!  That's it for this week, DMMs.  Was it worth the wait?  I have to say I really enjoyed making it and love having the extra soup around.  This freezes well so don't worry if you make too much!  Who ever said too much soup was a bad thing?  Enjoy and I'll see you back next week!