239. Memories of childhood come flooding back into my mind. It's a Friday night in late October. The air is crisp and chilly. The sounds of whistles blowing and fans cheering our local High School Football team stand out in the distance. Bright lights illuminating the neighborhood from the local stadium. The kitchen windows are steamed up as a hot pot of Sweet Pumpkin Soup gently simmers on the stove.
My mother would always make a pot of Sweet Pumpkin Soup each year in the fall. It is ultimate comfort food for me.
Sweet Pumpkin Soup
4-5 cups raw pumpkin, cubed
1/2 cup water
8 cups milk
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup butter, melted
liquid from cooked pumpkin (reserve after draining pumpkin)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sugar
cinnamon and sugar
Place cubed pumpkin and 1/2 cup water into a stock pot. Bring to a boil and simmer till pumpkin is tender. Drain liquid and reserve. Mash pumpkin to desired texture leaving chunks if you so desire. Pour milk into pot with cooked pumpkin. Bring to a simmer.
Dumplings: In a separate bowl add melted butter, flour, salt and 1 cup drained liquid. Begin to stir together till it forms a sticky dough. If dough is too dry continue to add more liquid until it comes together into a sticky dough.
Once the soup comes to a boil, dip a tablespoon into the soup to warm the spoon, then scoop a spoonful of dough onto the spoon creating a small ball of dough. Then drop into the soup. Reheat the spoon each time and continue till all dough is used. Simmer the soup for about 25 minutes till dumplings are cooked. Stir in sugar.
Soup will thicken.
Ladle hot soup into bowls and sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar.
"And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen."
~Ward Elliot Hour
