Potage au Potiron

This French pumpkin soup is a wonderful fall treat!  Calabaza or pumpkin was a main staple of Native American cuisine.  When pumpkin is not sweetened as a dessert, it has a very nice squash flavor.  Pumpkin does have a light natural sweetness of its own, but it is not overbearing.  Calabaza are far less domesticated and have more flavor than orange hybrid pumpkins.  I used a Mexican calabaza for this recipe.  The crunchy cinnamon croutons add a nice touch to this soup.  Potage au Potiron is very nice for a chilly fall day.
     Recipe:  Saute a little bit of finely chopped onion and minced ginger in unsalted butter over medium heat in a pot.
     When the onions turn clear, add some chicken broth.
     Add some finely chopped pumpkin flesh.
     Bring the soup to a boil.
     Add a pinch of thyme, a bay leaf, a pinch of nutmeg, sea salt and white pepper.  
     Simmer the soup over medium heat.
     In a separate pan combine equal parts of flour and unsalted butter over medium heat while whisking to make a blonde roux.
     When the roux becomes a blonde color, add enough of the roux to the soup while stirring to thicken the soup to a medium thick consistency.
     Add enough milk to give the soup a lighter color and to give the soup a lighter consistency.
     Simmer the soup over medium low heat and stir occasionally for twenty minutes.
     Heat some unsalted butter in a saute pan over medium heat.
     Trim the crust off of some stale French bread.
     Cut some dice shaped croutons out of the trimmed French bread.
     Saute the croutons in the hot butter.
     Stir or toss the croutons in the pan so they toast evenly.  The croutons are done when they become golden colored.
     Set the cinnamon croutons in a bowl.
     Sprinkle some cinnamon on the croutons while tossing them.
     Ladle the soup into a bowl.  Float some cinnamon croutons on top of the soup and serve.
     Awesome!  This pumpkin soup is so comfortably good.  Very warming too.  The cinnamon croutons add a nice cinnamon butter crunch to the soup.  Delicious!     ....     Shawna