Roasted Pumpkin and White Bean Soup with Cornbread

This dish is inspired by the Three Sisters, a term referring to the farming practice of companion planting, which was employed by the Native Americans of the Northeastern United States to grow maize, beans and squash. The three plants were grown in a mound in order to allow for optimal nutrient distribution to the plants and soil – the bean plant produces nitrogen in the soil which the corn needs to grow. The practice also provides an ideal physical structure – the bean vines climb the corn stalk and the large squash leaves provide ground cover which keeps the soil moist and the weeds at bay, so everyone wins.

Roasting the pumpkin before adding it to the soup adds a richness of flavor as the juices condense. For cornbread, I like using corn flour in place of corn meal for a smoother crumb. When I taught colonial cooking, we used a cast iron dutch oven to bake cornbread over an open flame as colonial settlers would have done. The result is a more moist and dense texture than cornbread baked uncovered.

Roasted Pumpkin and White Bean Soup – makes 6-8 servings

1 C dry Great Northern beans
1 t +1 t dried rosemary
1 t salt
1 sugar pumpkin, seeded and roasted (instructions below)
1 T butter, melted
1/2 C red onion, chopped
2 C vegetable or chicken stock
Salt to taste

Start out by soaking the beans overnight.

Drain the water and refill the pot halfway with fresh water. Add the rosemary and salt to the pot and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, cut pumpkin in half. Remove the guts, reserving the seeds to make Roasted Pumpkin Seeds on another day. Brush with butter and place in a deep covered casserole dish or dutch oven. Cover and roast at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove pumpkin from casserole and place cut side up on a baking sheet. Brush again with butter, increase heat to 450 and roast uncovered for an additional 10 minutes. This is to bring out the sweetness. Be careful not to let the pumpkin dry out.

Remove the pumpkin from the oven and brush again with butter to prevent too much water from escaping as it cools. Allow to cool enough to handle without burning your delicate little hands. Scoop the flesh from the pumpkin halves and discard the skin.

Drain the beans. It’s okay if some of the rosemary escapes with the water, it was intended to flavor the beans as they simmered.

Melt the butter in the stockpot. Add the additional teaspoon of dried rosemary and onion. Allow to soften. Add the pumpkin and chicken stock and bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Puree the pumpkin mixture in the blender until smooth. Combine with the beans, season to taste and serve with the cornbread.

New England Honey Cornbread – makes about 8 pieces

1 C flour
1 C corn flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 T butter, softened almost melted
1/3 C sour cream
1 egg
1/4 C honey
3/4 C milk

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together until well blended. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry mixture until blended. Pour into a greased cast iron dutch oven and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, until a toothpick interted into the center comes out clean.

Ingredient origins: Beans – Georgia, Hormone-free Butter – Maine, Sustainably grown red onion – New Hampshire, Organic chicken stock – Oregon, Rosemary – unknown, Salt – unknown, Flour – Vermont, Corn flour – Oregon, Sour cream – Vermont, Honey – Massachusetts, Organic milk – Vermont

Malaysian-Style Noodle Soup

Back when we used to live in a more urban area, my husband and I liked going to a local Malaysian restaurant for Prawn Mee and Tom Yum soups on rainy Sundays. It’s been a while since we’ve had a nice spicy, fishy noodle soup, so I thought I’d try to make my own at home using the curry paste left over from the tofu curry I made a while ago.

Once again, I’m not claiming this to be in any way authentic. I just threw it together using taste and memory to replicate what we used to order back in the day, and I have to say, it came pretty close. Maybe next time I’ll make it with pork instead of chicken.

I’m sure there are plenty of other ways this soup could be done. Peeling the shrimp and simmering the shells and legs (and heads, if possible) in the stock to extract the shrimp flavor before assembling and simmering the soup would have been a good way to avoid getting your hands all goopy when you’re having the soup. But oh well. That’s what napkins are for.

Malaysian-Style Noodle Soup – serves 8 – 10

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 lb shrimp, deveined, shells and legs left on
2 T canola oil
4 T red curry paste
4 C fish stock
6-8 whole shitake mushrooms, stems trimmed
1/4 C cilantro, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
2/3 C dry white wine
2 carrots, julienned
16 ounces of dry rice noodles, cooked (boil and drain)

Julienne the chicken and toss with 1 tablespoon of canola oil and 2 tablespoons of red curry paste. Place in a non-reactive glass dish and marinate in refrigerator for 2-4 hours. In a bowl, toss the shrimp with 1 tablespoon of canola oil and 2 tablespoons of red curry paste. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 2-4 hours.

In a large stockpot, bring fish stock to a simmer. Add wine, shitakes, cilantro, scallions and chicken to the pot. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

Add shrimp and carrots and allow to simmer another 15 minutes until shrimp is cooked.

To serve, place a serving of noodles in the bottom of a bowl and cover with soup (this way the noodles can’t get soggy and over cooked).

Ingredient origins in order of distance: The scallions and cilantro came from plants in my kitchen, which were grown at a local herb farm. I used my homemade fish stock, which is made from local fish and trimmings from mostly local veggies – it lended a lot of flavor to the soup. The wine was made right down the street. The chicken was antibiotic/hormone free, from New Jersey. The Shitakes were from Pennsylvania – not so local, but at least that’s under 500 miles of travel. The shrimp was wild and came from the Gulf of Mexico. The carrots were grown in California, but organic. The canola oil came from “the USA and Canada”. The rice noodles and curry paste came from Thailand.