Whether you like to eat pumpkin, or not, you will agree that pumpkin plays a leading role in the fall season. And not only for decorations. The smell of pumpkin spice from the kitchen is the smell of the season.

When the colonists arrived in North America, they found the Native Americans cultivating pumpkins. The hungry colonists embraced and grew to like the flavorful universal fruit, which could be turned into everything, from soup to stew to pies.

Not every pumpkin is good for cooking. Super large versions are used for seasonal decorations. The smaller tender varieties are used for pies, stews and soups. Most pumpkin dishes involve scooping out the seeds, peeling the skin and cutting the pumpkin flesh. The seeds are washed, dried and used for eating. They are good for our health.

It’s interesting that pumpkin soup and pumpkin stewed in milk with millet or rice were very popular in my family when I was still a child in Siberia. Pumpkin stew (tikvennaya kasha or zapekanka) was one of my favorite breakfasts. It was sweet and flavorful. Those who lived in Soviet Russia know that porridge or kasha was a necessary part of children’s breakfast. Pumpkin added color to the bland looking rice and looked festive. Sometimes it was baked with cottage cheese as a pie or a pudding.

Pureed pumpkin soup is the dish that I learned to cook in America, mainly for Thanksgiving lunch or dinner.

The pumpkin soup recipes range from Spaniard and West Indian papery soups to creamy soups of the French.

So this time, I would like to share the recipe of my spicy pumpkin and butternut squash soup, which I am going to cook for Thanksgiving lunch this year.

A similar type of squash, Acorn squash, is sweet, too, but more fibrous and sometimes stringy, which is why butternut squash in soup is better.

To make a flavorful soup, you need 8-10 cups of chicken broth, 2 small size pumpkins, 1 butternut squash, 2 apples, 1 onion, 1 head of garlic, bouquet garni (sage, lemongrass), 1 tbsp of cognac (optional), 1 tbsp of butter, 1 tsp of lemon zest, a pinch of each cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, Thai curry, and cinnamon, and a handful of peeled pumpkin seeds.

Cut pumpkins, butternut squash, and apples, remove the seeds, and peel.

Sprinkle  with olive oil, add garlic head and bake in a 350 degree oven until soft.

Do not discard the seeds. Wash them and roast in the oven. Peel and use them for garnish.

Sauté onion until translucent.

Puree baked pumpkins, squash, apples, sautéed onion, and peeled baked garlic cloves in a blender adding chicken broth to liquefy.

Pour well blended mixture into a saucepan; bring to a boil, lower the heat, stirring all the time.

Add spices, bouquet garni, cognac, butter. You may add more chicken broth if the pureed soup is too thick. Keep stirring until homogeneous. Turn the heat off and let it stand for about an hour.

Garnish with slightly sautéed shelled pumpkin seeds and a few drops of heavy cream or thick yogurt.

Serve with crackers.

A glass of Riesling wine will be a perfect match.

P.S. All the food featured in this post has been prepared and photographed by me.