A (nearly) cold-weather soup

It’s cold and therefore, it’s time for soup. Cold? Yes, after two years on the North Fork anything below 70 degrees is cold for me. One of my favorite cold-weather soups is this Long Island cheese pumpkin and fresh apple soup.

I live just down the road from Country View Farms in Southold and last fall I stopped in for my weekly burrata fix and ended up leaving with two cheese pumpkins. As I started to walk away, the woman behind the counter asked me if I knew how to cook them. “I figured I’d just slice it up and roast it,” I said. She told me to wait and emerged from behind the counter with a print-out of this recipe. I made it, loved it and kept making it.

From what I’ve heard, cheese pumpkins are great for pies. They have buff-colored skin, deep orange flesh, and are flat and lightly-ribbed like wheels of cheese — hence the name. A very good keeper, of excellent quality, on average they weigh 6 to 10 pounds each. Long Island cheese pumpkins are available in the late fall through winter.

According to Specialty Produce, an online farmers market, Long Island cheese pumpkins are botanically classified as Cucurbits moschata, an heirloom variety with a rich American history and is a member of the Cucurbitaceae family along with gourds and pumpkins. Cheese pumpkins are in limited availability today due to the introduction of modern squash varieties and are listed on Slow Food’s Arc of Taste, which is a program designed to bring awareness and preservation to disappearing varieties. They are rich in beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, and potassium.

The cheese squash is one of the oldest varieties of squash cultivated in the United States and was one of the first winter squashes to be domesticated for food and animal feed. Appearing in many American seed catalogs, cookbooks, and farmers almanacs dating back to the 1800s, the squash is most well-known for its use in pumpkin pie and was favored for its adaptability to the eastern seaboard climate.

It is also recommended as a healthy dietary addition for household pets, and when fed raw to chickens, it can help support healthy egg production in the winter months. Today, due to the decline of heirloom varieties, cheese pumpkin seeds are preserved in a regional seed bank on the East coast and are grown in the Smithsonian’s Victory Garden at the National Museum of American History.

I’ve been told my Aunt Nancy makes an amazing pumpkin pie with cheese pumpkins. Maybe one day I’ll be able to share it here.

Long Island cheese pumpkin & apple soup
1 cheese pumpkin, cut in half from stem to bottom
2 carrots, peeled
1 medium onion
6 cups vegetable stock
12 sage leaves
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 apples, peeled and halved, cores removed, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

1. Remove 1 cup of seeds from the pumpkin halves. Clean off any pumpkin meat from the seeds before setting them aside.

2. Rub the pumpkin halves with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place them seed side down on a sheet tray lined with aluminum foil. Cook in the oven for about 50 minutes or until a sharp knife easily pierces the skin and flesh.

3. Cut the carrots and onion into a medium dice and sauté them in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over low heat until tender. Set aside.

4. Heat 1 cup of olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it begins to simmer, add 3 to 4 sage leaves at a time, frying them for about 6 to 8 seconds each. Remove the leaves with tongs or a slotted spoon and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Continue this process until all the sage is fried. Turn off the heat.

5. Immediately place the reserved pumpkin seeds in the leftover, sage-infused oil, for about 20 seconds or until they begin to brown. Pour the contents of the pan into a metal strainer set over a metal bowl.

6. Place the seeds on a plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle generously with salt. Set the oil aside to cool.

7. When the pumpkin is cooked, remove it from oven and let it cool for 10 minutes. Then remove and discard any seeds from the flesh.

8. Scoop out the pumpkin meat from one pumpkin half and place it in a blender. Add half of the cooled carrots and onions, and one chopped apple to the blender. Add vegetable stock to the ¾ mark on the blender and close the lid. Blend on low, then gradually increase the speed as the ingredients combine. Pour the contents into a large pot or bowl. Repeat with the remaining sautéed carrots and onions, chopped apple and vegetable stock.

9. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To serve: Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with pumpkin seeds, 2 to 3 sage leaves and a drizzle of the reserved pumpkin-sage oil.