Tom Fitzmorris

Pumpkin Soup with Tasso

Preparation info

  • Serves

    eight

    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in

Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food

Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food

By Tom Fitzmorris

Published 2018

  • About

Every October people begin asking me what they can cook with all those beautiful and inexpensive pumpkins out there. Jack-o’-lantern pumpkins are wrong for pie, but they do make interesting savory dishes. This rich soup gets a bit of spice and smokiness from the tasso—Cajun-style cured ham. (Buy the very dry, crusty, peppery kind.)

Ingredients

  • 1 medium–large pumpkin, 5–7 lb.
  • 2 Tbsp. butter

Method

  1. Cut a round hole about 5 inches in diameter in the top of the pumpkin. Scrape out the seeds and juicy membranes and discard. Then scrape out the flesh of the pumpkin, leaving about a 1-inch-thick shell if you plan to use it as a soup tureen.
  2. Chop the pumpkin flesh roughly in a food processor. Measure out 4–5