It's our third Halloween in this house, and evidently every child in Tucson lives in our neighborhood.. after three years we still can't seem to purchase enough candy. I am convinced, after buying five very large bags of candy that children can smell the candy and all show up at our house to Trick or Treat us, and leave us feeling like jerks at 7:30 when we run out and have to close up shop. There is always next year. So what to do with our wonderful pumpkins, surely we can't just throw them away for leave them for the droves of bored bandit youngsters to smash in the middle of the night? We drag them inside, and they come willingly, then we sweet talk them into the kitchen and we set them on the cutting bored, they have no idea what's happening, the little one it snarled at me, but I am quick, I grabbed the knife, and sudo jack knifed that sucker!


Pumpkin flesh it's a useful horribly wasted edible wonder that can be sweet and savory. Most recipes call for cans (ick) of pumpkin.... but why? Most people have pumpkins, a wonder, at their disposal every year... and a small pumpkin will yield nearly four cups of condensed pumpkin once cooked.


#1 Clean the Pumpkin, hack it up, and then cut the orange skin off, chop into smaller pieces
#2 Boil Water, add salt, and add pumpkin, cook for 20min
#3 Strain water, and add pumpkin (soft) to blender or food processor and blend till smooth

Difficult I know, but it's possible, anything is possible if you set your mind to it... Like, before tonight. I hated pumpkin everything..... but being really cheap and occasionally open to new things, I thought this recipe for Parmigiano Pumpkin Soup with with Frizzled Prosciutto sounds exotically worthwhile to forget about how much I dislike the season pumpkin spice everything.

The recipe can be made in of course, my favorite, a dutch oven, or in a simple crock pot/slow cooker.

Parmigiano Pumpkin Soup with Frizzled Prosciutto
By: Androw Schloss

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Ounces of Prosciutto
1 Large Onion
3 Large cloves of Garlic
28 Ounces of Pumpkin
2 Quarts of Veggie or Chicken Broth
1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of Kosher Salt
1/2 Ground white pepper
1/2 cup of cream (10%) fat
1/2 cup of shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
2 Tablespoons of fresh chopped Italian Parsley

Heat oil in skillet and cook prosciutto till crisp, set aside, add onion and cook till tender (not brown) and add garlic for 2 -3 min. Add broth, pumpkin, nutmeg, pepper, salt, and let cook for 2 hours. Stirring occasionally Add cream, cheese during the last 5 minutes. And add parsley right before serving and garnish with prosciutto.


The outcome?
Baptism by savory..... screw you sweet pumpkin spice people.... some of us are sick of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar crap. Give me salty fleshy pumpkins anytime....... makes me wish we hadn't spared the life of the happy Jack.

As always.... I've included a really lovely mouth + food shot for your viewing pleasure.