(In English below)
Il ne s’agit pas ici de réinventer la poudre, et certainement pas la recette de la soupe au potiron. Soupe de nos Grand Mères par excellence, il y en a des dizaines de recettes. Voici la mienne:
- Faites revenir 1 oignon et 200g de lardons fumés dans une cocotte
- Pelez et coupez 3 beaux morceaux de potiron en gros dés
- Placez le tout dans la cocotte et mettez de l’eau à niveau
- Cuisez à feu doux pendant 40mn
- Passez la soupe au mixeur avec 2 à trois cuillères à soupe de crème et rectifiez l’assaisonnement.
- Ajoutez quelques morceaux de bacon, de foie gras ou de confit de canard et servez. Cette foie ci, j’ai simplement ajouté le reste de mon sandwich de la veille coupé en dés (sandwich au Comté, jambon de canard et pain brioché). Quelques feuilles de sauge fraiches donneront un petit coup de fouet au tout…
Donc citrouille + sandwich au pain brioché = Cendrillon + Marie Antoinette
Quand je suis à court d’inspiration, j’ai tendance à me réfugier dans les pires clichés… En fait, c’est en allant vérifier la fameuse citation que j’ai appris qu’on avait prêté ces mots à tord à la reine. Ils viennent en fait des Confessions, publié en 1782 par Jean-Jacques Rousseau…
I do not mean to reinvent the wheel here, and certainly not the recipe for pumpkin soup; but here is one of mine:
- Sauté an onion and 200g of smoked bacon in a pot
- Peel and chop 3 beautiful pieces of pumpkin into 1 inch cubes
- Add the pumpkin to the pot with water at level.
- Cook over low heat for 40 minutes
- Mix the soup in a blender with two to three tablespoons of cream and adjust the seasoning.
- You can also add fresh foie gras, bacon bits or duck confit before serving. A few leaves of fresh sage will add a little kick…
This time I put a few pieces of the duck and grilled cheese sandwich I had had for dinner the night before. I made the sandwich on “pain brioché” and this is why I am calling this soup the “When Cinderella meets Marie Antoinette Soup”. Cinderella because of the pumpkin of course, and Marie Antoinette because of the “give them cake” quote. What she actually said in French was “give them brioche”. I think I was trying to be too clever for my own good here.
However, I was being a lot less clever than I thought. Indeed, as I was checking on the origins of the quote, I found out from several sources, that our queen never said such a thing. The famous quote actually came from “Les Confessions” which Jean-Jacques Rousseau had written and published in 1782…
MY FRENCH HEAVEN 
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Beautiful! Yum.
Stephane, my jaw fell open at the second photo! So simple but such a brilliant idea. And I am making pumpkin soup tonight and will try adding the lardons to the cooking (I usually add them as a topping at the end). Merci!
Yum!
janet
Oh my god… that is gorgeous! My mouth is watering!
Your images are so well designed and the clarity of definition is sublime
May I ask what camera’s you use and what lenses?
Ciao
Malcolm
Merci de me fournir cette recette. Justement j’avais l’intention de préparer une soupe au potiron. Je suis ravie !
Love the simplicity of the recipe and adore the suggestion of adding foie gras 🙂 How about roasting the pumpkin instead of boiling it with added water? Beautiful photos as usual!
That Marie Antoinette non-quote is fascinating isn’t it? It seems much more real than ‘real’ history. Love pumpkin soup!
Love your sense of humour. Read your post title and thought to myself ‘pumpkin soup with cake? What’s Stephane up to now? Aah brioche! The penny dropped. I’m sure this soup would not be out of place at a banquet or ball!
Oh! That is the loveliest soup, Stephane. Love the idea of grilled cheese croutons. Truly, there is nothing I want more at this moment than to settle down to a meal like that. You really must stop distracting me from my work. My half-written hero and heroine are not at all happy with you. Selfish POPOs (people on paper only) 🙂
Nice! Definitely making this!
I’m jealous that your butternut squash is only 1,50€/kilo! In Paris ours is 2,50€… 😦
Wonderful soup, truly one worth losing one’s head over! 🙂
BTW….horrors….pure canned pumpkin works perfectly well here; it has no additives and is just boiled pureed pumpkin, so no harm, no foul!
What a fun little story behind your soup and sandwich. It looks delicious. Thank you for sharing.
I can’t wait to try this, Stéfane… I love the decadent toppings! Best – Shanna
Looks delicious. Great idea.
Gorgeous photos. Decadent pumpkin soup. I would eat this any day. Thyme would also work so well with this.
It’s interesting you bring up that quote. We were actually talking about it at thanksgiving. At least in England cake used to be bread or bread like way back when so we were thinking she meant let them eat bread, if she actually said it.