Roasted Kabocha Soup

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Roasting kabocha and yellow onions together until they caramelize brings out the sweetness of them, before making them into a rich vegetarian-based Roasted Kabocha Soup.  I have been seeing a lot of kabocha recipes in my Australian Gourmet magazines.  I finally found both the green and red varietals at the Berkeley farmers market, and this soup has been on a regular rotation plan now.  

  What is Kabocha?  It is also known as a Japanese pumpkin throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.  It is the short stubby cousin to our native pumpkin.  The kabocha is round but also rather bumpy with knobby skin, the color is either a dull green or red but the insides are an intense red-orange color.  It is naturally sweet, even sweet than a butternut squash with a similar texture of a pumpkin.  I thought the flesh tasted rather earthy like a russet potato.  It is rich in beta-carotene, iron, vitamin C, and potassium.

I found the history of the kabocha interesting as well.  It is believed that all squash originated in Mesoamerica, but may have been independently cultivated elsewhere.  However, the kabocha was introduced to Japan by Portuguese sailors in 1541, who brought it with them from Cambodia. The Portuguese name for the pumpkin, Cambodia abóbora,  was shortened by the Japanese to kabocha.

This was my first time using a kabocha and I decided that I wanted to make it into a soup.  I slowly roasted it with some yellow onions and olive oil until it was caramelized.  Then I simmered the flesh as well as the onions with plain water – I find that vegetable stock changes the flavor of soups and takes away from their natural taste.  Pureeing the mixture makes it really creamy, and there is no need for butter or cream.  I served the soup with a piece of fried sage and a drizzle of  sage oil.  It was rich in flavor but light in calories.  T

his soup would make a perfect soup course for your Thanksgiving table.

Roasted Kabocha Soup

Ingredients:

1 3 pound kabocha, cut into quarters

1 yellow onion, cut into quarters

a drizzle of olive oil

3 cups of water

kosher salt, to taste

fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

fresh sage leaves

How To:

Heat oven to 425.

Put kabocha and onion in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil.  Roast for about 30 -45 minutes until soft and caramelized.  Remove from the oven and gently remove the flesh of the kabocha from the skin.

Place the flesh into a large saucepan with the onion and water.  Simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes.

Puree with a food processor or blender small batches, return to a saucepan.  Gently reheat.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a small frying pan and gently fry sage leaves.

Before serving drizzle a bit of the sage-infused olive oil over the top of the soup and float the fried sage leaf in it.

Serve.

Eat.