Thanksgiving Soups

Every family has their Thanksgiving traditions. Mine has several; some of which revolve around which foods get served and some of which revolve around what actually happens on the holiday. One of the more unique traditions seems to get caught on video by someone every year. But that tradition isn’t the point of this post. The tradition that I want to talk about is the tradition of my making the holiday soups.

I am not quite sure how or when it started, but, if I am in the state and have access to a kitchen, I usually make the soups for the holiday meal. It seems like every holiday my father and I have the same conversation. It begins with my asking him what I can bring, takes a tour through his fabulous holiday menu, and ends with his reluctant agreement to allow me to bring both soups. For Thanksgiving, that is usually a pumpkin curry soup and a carrot parsnip soup.

Pumpkin Curry Soup

My pumpkin curry soup is probably my easiest soup ever, although it didn’t start out that way. I’m not sure where I initially found the recipe, but the original recipe called for cleaning and cubing a baby sugar pumpkin, boiling the pumpkin cubes in vegetable broth, and then pureeing the broth and pumpkin cubes until smooth. After doing that once, I simplified the recipe to use two cans of pureed pumpkin, enhanced with two cans of mango nectar to more closely mimic the taste of a sugar pumpkin.

On Tuesday night before Thanksgiving, I started the pumpkin curry soup in my largest heavy Faberware pot. It began with a basic sauté of leeks and minced garlic in olive oil. After the leeks softened, I added the red curry paste, ginger paste, coriander, and paprika. That also required a quick sauté, just until the spices were fragrant. If let go too long, the spices can burn and turn bitter. I forgot to shake the first can of light coconut milk that I opened, so it came out as a clump of coconut fat followed by a gush of coconut water, which wasn’t very helpful in deglazing the pan. I basically just used the liquid to scrape what I could off the bottom and sides of the pot. Once that was all blended, I shook the second can of light coconut milk, emptied it into the pot, and stirred well to combine. I left that simmer uncover for about five minutes to thicken slightly. The pumpkin puree had to be scraped out of the cans with a rubber spatula, and mixed in with a wooden spoon until smooth. At this point, the soup was super thick. Fortunately, it wasn’t super hot, so I didn’t need to worry about burns from any exploding bubbles. Since the mango nectar came in a 30+ ounce box, I had to measure out the required 24 ounces, and stir that in carefully to loosen the soup. Because the soup was nearing the rim of the large Faberware pot, I transferred it from that pot to my small aluminum stockpot before adding a quart of organic vegetable broth. All that remained was a quick five minute simmer to blend the flavors. After that, I just set it aside to chill before a quick reheat on Thanksgiving day.

Carrot Parnsip Soup

The original carrot parsnip soup was strictly a carrot orange soup, but then Dad substituted a few parsnips for a portion of the carrots. I’ve incorporated a few “cheats” over the years to simplify the preparation: baby carrots to eliminate peeling and chopping carrots, orange juice to eliminate juicing an orange. But nothing can make it easier to prepare the parsnips. So I postponed the making of this soup until the last possible moment.

On Wednesday morning, I finally had to bite the bullet and peel a pound of parsnips. Then I peeled and chopped two sweet white onions and threw that into some butter that I had melting in the bottom of my cast iron enamel soup pot. While the onions were softening, I sliced the parsnips into thin coins. Once the onions were translucent, I added the baby carrots and the parsnip coins, stirred well, covered, and walked away for 20 minutes. Well, I didn’t walk away entirely. I came by every five minutes to toss the pot so that the ingredients wouldn’t stick to the bottom while the vegetables were steaming. After the vegetables softened, I added enough chicken broth to cover them, which turned out to be two 32-ounce containers. I brought that to a boil, and then reduced to a simmer for 20 minutes, stirring periodically. Once time was up, I pulled the soup off the heat and stirred in one cup of orange juice. Then I broke out the immersion blender, which was safer than pouring the soup in batches into my blender. Using the immersion blender, I pureed the vegetables until completely smooth. It was a little thinner than usual, because I added so much broth, but a quick taste test indicated that it was good to go. All I had to do was let it cool down enough to load into the car to transport for Thanksgiving dinner.

The Verdict

Both the pumpkin curry soup and the carrot parsnip soup just needed a quick reheat on Thanksgiving day. So I pulled out the soup pots when we started to plate the salad, and turned the burners to low. Both were warm – but not scalding – by the time the salad course was finished. Of the dinner guests who were having soup, the choice was just slightly in favor of the carrot parsnip soup. However, everyone seemed to enjoy their choice. I actually chose the pumpkin curry with my Thanksgiving day meal because it was the lighter of the two soups, and then I had a bowl of the carrot parsnip soup with lunch on Friday.

The Recipes

Pumpkin Curry Soup II
Just as good as the original recipe requiring a baby sugar pumpkin, but with simpler ingredients that are available all year

Olive oil
3-4 leeks, finely sliced white and light green parts
6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 tsp curry powder or red curry paste
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp crushed ginger paste
2 –14oz cans light coconut milk
2 – 15oz cans pumpkin filling (not spiced)
2 – 12 oz cans mango nectar
2 – 16 oz cans vegetable or chicken broth

1. Sauté leeks and garlic in olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat, until leeks are soft and garlic is translucent.
2. Lower heat. Add curry, coriander, paprika, and ginger. Stir until fragrant and slightly darkened.
3. Deglaze pot with a little coconut milk. Scrape the bottom and sides clean. Add remaining coconut milk once pot is completely deglazed.
4. Increase heat to medium. Bring to boil. Simmer approximately 5 minutes uncovered to thicken slightly.
5. Add one can of pumpkin filling. Smash against the sides of the pot to blend chunks. Repeat with second can.
6. Add mango nectar and broth. Return to a simmer.
7. Simmer 5 minutes more to combine flavors.
8. Serve warm.


Carrot and Parsnip Soup
Dad’s modified version of the original carrot orange soup, which smells great on a cold winter day!

1 ½ - 2 pounds carrots
1 pound parsnips
3-6 tbsp. butter (not margarine)
2 medium yellow or white onions, coarsely chopped
2 large oranges (or 1 cup orange juice)
1-1 ½ qt chicken or vegetable broth

1. Wash and peel carrots and parsnips. Cut into thin nickel and dime sized pieces.
2. Melt butter in a large saucepot on medium heat. When butter is bubbling, add carrots, parsnips and onions. Stir to coat vegetables with butter.
3. Cover pot. Reduce heat to low. Sweat vegetables until soft, about 15-20 minutes. Toss occasionally.
4. Add broth. Raise heat to high and bring to a full rolling boil.
5. Reduce heat to low, and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes. Pour into a blender and puree. This can be done in batches, if required.
6. Roll oranges on a hard flat surface with the heel of your hand until squishy. Halve the oranges and squeeze juice with pulp into the pureed mixture. Blend again.
7. Warm soup in saucepot on medium heat immediately before serving.