Delicious and creative! Celebrity chef Carla Hall’s roasted pumpkin soup has Us in our fall feels — and it’s as delicious as it looks.
“Sugar pumpkins aren’t just for pies anymore. [You can] turn them into a perfectly portioned dinner just before trick-or-treating or that costume party,” the Halloween Baking Championship judge, 58, revealed in the most recent issue of Us Weekly of the creative way she displays her festive soup.
Hall’s version of the roasted pumpkin soap — which serves four — is poured into delicate sugar pumpkins that have been decorated to resemble a carved jack-o-lantern. The recipe also features tomato and herbs to help “balance out the Halloween booty that’s sure to come later,” she notes.
After a distinguished career as a professional chef, the Chew cohost competed on Bravo’s Top Chef in 2008 and shared her “cooking with love” philosophy. The Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration Author went on to win on Top Chef: All Stars In 2010, shortly after joining the Chew roundtable. Regardless of her ever-expanding list, the Tennessee native is passionate about creating delicious meals that bring joy.
“I love comfort foods that remind me of family, specifically the recipes passed down to me by my grandmother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease,” Hall exclusively told Use December 2019. “Any meal shared around the table with good friends and family is a memorable meal.”
Carla Hall Adam Nemser/Startraks
Keep scrolling to learn how to make Hall’s Roasted Pumpkin Soup in time for Halloween, and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly For more holiday inspiration, visit:
Ingredients:
1 tbsp unsalted margarine
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, medium dice
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, medium dice
1 large late harvest tomato
4 sprigs of thyme
2 rosemary sprigs
1 cup chopped parsley, leaves only
3 tsps salt, broken
1 tsp groundblack petter, divided
2 ½ cups chicken stock
¼ cup heavy cream
4 sugar pumpkins (2-3 pounds each)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Butter and olive oil should be melted in a Dutch oven medium-sized. Add garlic, onion, celery and tomato to the pot. Cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add 2 tsp of salt, ½ tsp pepper and chicken stock. Bring mixture to boil. Once it has boiled, add cream to the saucepan and stir.
3. Make jack-o’-lanterns out of the pumpkins by cutting off the top and scooping the seeds out.
4. Season the inside of each pumpkin with ½ tsp of salt and¼ tsp of pepper. The soup should be ladled into the pumpkins. Discard the rosemary sprigs and thyme leaves as you go. Place the pumpkin lids on each one. Roast on a foil-lined cookie sheet (for easy cleanup) for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until tender when pierced with a knife.
5. To get the best pumpkin flavor, use the ladle to scrape out the roasted pumpkin flesh.
