Pumpkin Cheddar and Ale Soup
Do you have any pumpkins left in your winter food storage? I stocked up every week at the Farmers Market by buying an extra squash or two, and now have quite a few ready and waiting for whenever I feel like eating them! Many winter squash varieties store well if they have been properly cured, so this is a great way of building up your pantry without any labour intensive preservation techniques.
I picked up these beauties at the year end sale at Davison Orchards. I make it my personal mission to fit the most sugar pumpkins I can in my cart since the sale is usually that all the pumpkins you can fit in your cart are $20 total.
I have been dreaming up this soup for a while and finally got around to figuring it out. It turned out to be everything I hoped! I hope you can get your hands on some pumpkin (any winter squash will substitute nicely if you can't find any pumpkin, but the flavour will be a little bit different) and give it a try!
PUMPKIN CHEDDAR AND ALE SOUP
This makes a lot of soup - perfect for freezing and eating later!
- 2 sugar pumpkins (roasted until soft)
- 1 medium onion
- 3 small cloves garlic
- butter
- 1 can of ale (nothing too sweet or overly spiced)
- 4 cups milk (more or less depending on how runny you like your soup)
- 2 cups stock (I used turkey)
- 1 lb cheddar cheese (shredded)
- 1 tbsp salt
- Dice onions and garlic, and sauté in butter until soft and translucent in the bottom of a large soup pot.
- Transfer to a blender along with pumpkin and puree until smooth. You can add a little of the ale, milk, or stock at this point if you need it to help keep things moving in the blender. An immersion blender will work also.
- Combine pumpkin mixture, ale, milk, and stock back in the pot and bring to a low simmer. Add the cheese and stir until it is all melted in.
- Season with salt to taste.