I have never cooked a whole fresh pumpkin in my life, so when I ran across a recipe for Soup in a Pumpkin I was pretty jazzed.

Of course, as with many internet discoveries, this one surely couldn’t be as cool as it looked. There had to be some problem that was conveniently glossed over in the nifty little instructional—right?

I decided to find out, and of course, my version had to be vegan.

Long story short, I have a new favorite fall recipe. Half science project, half wholesome and delicious meal—this easy and interesting method of cooking soup will make a regular appearance in my kitchen as soon as the leaves turn.

Vegan Soup in a Pumpkin

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized fresh pumpkin, top cut off, seeds and guts removed (reserve seeds for roasting)
• 1 apple, peeled and chopped
• 1 leek, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• handful of fresh sage leaves
• 1 branch fresh rosemary
• 1 bay leaf (tie the herbs together with kitchen twine for easy removal after cooking)
• 8-10 cups vegetable broth
• sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 1 tbl olive oil (optional)
• 1 cup dry white wine (optional)
• fresh parsley and croutons for garnish

Place pumpkin on a baking sheet. Turn oven on to 400.

Put all ingredients except garnishes inside pumpkin, making sure the liquid sits two or so inches below the top. (In the video, the pumpkin is filled all the way to the top, but during cooking things seemed to expand so unless you want a big mess, don’t fill it up as high.)

Put the pumpkin top on and slip the whole thing into the oven. Cook for two hours or until nicely browned.

To serve, remove top and herb bundle, scoop out the sides of the pumpkin gently and place in a bowl along with all other ingredients and broth. Top with parsley and croutons.

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Editor: Renée Picard

Photos: courtesy of the author