Here's what I'm cooking today. It's a pumpkin — un potiron — from our 2016 vegetable garden. Well, we are both cooking it, because I'll make soup and Walt says he want to make a pumpkin pie.
For decades I've kept hold of a memory of being somewhere out in the country in France, back in the days when I lived in Paris (1970s-'80s), and going to a restaurant in a village where a soupe au potiron, au lait, et aux oignons was served. It is a vivid memory, but I of course have no recipe. I'm going to try to recreate the soup from memory today. I poached a chicken yesterday, and I'll put broth and shredded chicken into the soup too. Photos later, maybe.
Meanwhile, we are having winter-type weather. That means a lot of fog and what is called grisaille in French. When the sun burns off the grayness late in the day, the colors are magnificent. It's not raining, and that's surprising because most years the chilly rains begin in late October and last into November or even December. Oh, and the two men who are glazing the greenhouse didn't manage to finish the job yesterday. We're disappointed, but they say they can come back on Tuesday and try to finish it then.
That's an enormous pumpkin! Shame about the greenhouse though.
ReplyDeleteI think the pumpkin weighed about 7 kilos. Oh look — the sun just came out! How exciting.
DeleteI suggest cooking the pumpkin (courge?) differently for soup and for pie. I had tried to make purée by cooking down cut-up pumpkin, but far easier is to bake it and scoop out the soft flesh. It has just the right consistency for pie (about 40-45 minutes, fles-side down, at 180 C). In fact, I have two potirons in the oven at this moment (in anticipation of pumpkin pie for guests Nov. 1, and also because it warms the house on this chilly morning).
ReplyDeleteFor soup, I cut up pieces and cook them in chicken broth, so the result is a lot looser. Then to the blender, because I don't have an immersion blender. I make a ton and freeze it, then dress it up different ways: with curry and coconut milk, or with cream and onions...
A good French recipe resource is Marmiton.org
Bon ap!
Well, I'm making pumpkin soup, but not pureed pumpkin potage. I like the soupier, chunkier version, and today I'm putting in sliced onions, garlic, celery, spices, slices of pumpkin, and "pulled" (shredded) chicken from a chicken that I poached yesterday. The poaching liquid goes into the soup too, of course, with milk (could use cream).
DeleteMarmiton is a standard and has been around for years, but the recipes vary greatly in details and accuracy. I use it a lot, however.
At the same time, we are roasting half of the same pumpkin in the oven to make a puree that will be used in pumpkin pie, enchilada sauce, soup, or as a side dish — whatever. We had a really good soup that was pureed pumpkin with pureed foie gras when we had lunch at the Auberge de la Tour in Châtillon-sur-Indre a few days ago.
your patios looks fantastic in autumn scenery
ReplyDelete: ^ )
DeleteYour pumpkin is a beaut. I have a food memory of a hamburger soup that a Korean friend made many years ago. She served the soup in the pumpkin shell and it was wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWe are desperate for rain here and in a sad situation with crop damage, no hay for livestock, etc.
I didn't know you were in such a severe drought. Hope the rains start soon. We too are experiencing drought conditions. The weather is certainly strange these days.
DeleteNice to see fall colors, which we never get here in Socal. The leaves just drop.
ReplyDeleteGrisaille, if I'm not mistaken, can also be a painting entirely in tones of gray and white. The word we learned for fog was "la brume," but that was decades ago, so may not still be correct.
Evelyn I hope you get some rain. We are in the same boat.
What we are having these days is called brouillard, a thick fog that limits visibility. My understanding is that brume is thinner, hazier fog. I don't know about grisaille in painting terms. In weather, it means overcast, foggy, gray skies.
DeleteGrisaille is a camaïeu restricted to shades of gray — I guess from black to white. Other camaïeux use shades of only one color, whatever it is. According to English Wikipedia, a yellow camaïeu is called cirage(?), et là, je suis en plein cirage! :—)
DeleteBrouillard is a thick brume and brume is a thin brouillard, and vice versa! :—)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info chm...nice to learn new words. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, D.
DeleteThanks for the gorgeous fall photos, Ken, and thanks to everyone for the vocab lesson :)
ReplyDelete