To celebrate Halloween, here is a recipe that delights sorcerers both of this world and the next, from that most esteemed authority on the subject of pumpkins: Cinderella’s fairy godmother.
Ingredients
- 2¼ lb winter squash from the garden (red kuri, butternut, Hungarian blue . . .)
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- Freshly grated nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
- 2¼ oz crème fraîche or sour cream
How to Make It
- Fetch your best pumpkin from the bottom of the garden (not the biggest one, you might need that for a coach), brush off the lizard, fi nd your wand (up your sleeve, perhaps?), take a deep breath, smile, and cut the pumpkin into large pieces, carefully. Remove the seeds.
- If cooking in a cauldron: don your protective gloves and carefully remove the peel of the pumpkin. Place the pieces in your pot, cover with water and a shower of sparkles, crumble in the bouillon cube, and cook for 45 minutes.
- If you are using a steamer: crumble the bouillon cube into a bowl of water to add to the pumpkin later. Place the pumpkin pieces in the steam basket without removing the peel and cook for about 45 minutes, until the flesh is as tender as a fairy’s smile and can be easily pierced with the tip of your wand. Let it cool for a few minutes, then remove the peel by gently pulling it off .
- Blend the cooked pumpkin pieces in a food processor, adding a little of the cooking liquid until you have a smooth, fl uid soup. Taste, ask the mice and the lizard for their opinion, and add grated nutmeg, salt, and pepper to your preference (the opinion of the mice is decidedly too weird).
- Pour into bowls, add the crème fraîche or sour cream, and serve. Let your guests enjoy, but only after casting a protective spell over their clothes—it would be a shame to have to change and be late for the ball.