This is Paul Bocuse's famous thick pumpkin soup, from France, served inside the pumpkin shell.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 4 as a main course
Ingredients
1 pumpkin of 6 1/2 to 9 lbs
6 to 7 cups croutons
1 cup grated Gruyère cheese
salt and pepper to taste
3 quarts of light cream
Preparation
Step 1
Cut a lid from the top of the pumpkin by cutting around the stem. Remove and discard the seeds and fibers, but be sure to leave behind all meat. Place the croutons and the cheese in a few alternating layers (until you run out) in the pumpkin. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cream and cover well with the "lid."Bake the pumpkin for 2 hours in a 350°F oven.
Step 2
To serve the pumpkin: remove the lid, stir the contents gently with a spoon until the pumpkin flesh and the other ingredients are transformed into a deliciously thick soup. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if necessary.
Reprinted with permission from Play With Your Pumpkins by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann. © 1998 Stewart, Tabori, & Chang