Creamy soup with pumpkin and potatoes, Grandma’s Comfort Food Recipe. Easy. Quick and the Secret to Creaminess (with Broken Spaghetti).
When it’s cold outside and the humidity is palpable, nothing beats a warm soup that warms the heart. This is not your usual light velouté, but a real hug.
The secret of this soup lies in the harmonious combination of potatoes and pumpkin, two ingredients that blend together to create a naturally creamy and velvety texture.
But the real trick, Grandma’s secret, is that piece of cheese rind (Parmesan or Grana) added during cooking, which gives a rich, deep, and unmistakable flavor.
Just a few steps are needed to bring to the table a first course that captures the warmth and tradition of comforting cuisine, just like the recipes our grandmothers used to make.
The potatoes provide an enveloping creaminess and the right density, while the sweetness of the pumpkin adds a touch of refined flavor and an intoxicating color.
The aroma of this soup is enveloping and inviting and is perfect to serve on your tables for a hearty lunch or a light but satisfying dinner!
With bay leaf, cheese rind, and broken spaghetti, your soup is a masterpiece of flavor and tradition!
I chose to use the classic broken spaghetti to give body and a traditional touch to the soup, but you are free to use any short pasta you prefer: ditalini, quadrucci, tubetti, or even rice. Just adjust the broth based on the absorption capacity of the chosen pasta!
You can use Delica pumpkin for a more intense flavor or Butternut if you’re looking for a more delicate sweetness.
For an even lighter version, you can omit the spaghetti and enjoy it simply as a creamy velouté!”
Are you ready to warm up? Let’s start!”
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring
- Energy 406.28 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 39.99 (g) of which sugars 5.14 (g)
- Proteins 17.59 (g)
- Fat 20.66 (g) of which saturated 8.43 (g)of which unsaturated 3.95 (g)
- Fibers 3.97 (g)
- Sodium 1,557.35 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 580 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
Creamy soup with pumpkin and potatoes
- 3 slices pumpkin (large, diced)
- 3 potatoes (large)
- carrot (1)
- 1500 ml vegetable broth
- 220 g spaghetti (broken or short pasta)
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 1 parmesan (1 well-scraped parmesan rind)
- 1 leaf bay leaf
- to taste parmesan
- salt
Tools
- 2 Pots
Steps
Creamy soup with pumpkin and potatoes
First, prepare your vegetable broth (with carrot, celery, and onion) in a pot and keep it warm.
Pour some extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan.
Add the onion (if you haven’t used it all in the broth) and let it lightly brown along with the diced carrot.
Then add the cleaned and diced pumpkin and let it flavor for a few seconds, being careful not to burn it.
Now add the peeled and diced potatoes.
Pour a couple of ladles of hot vegetable broth. Lightly adjust the salt (considering the cheese) and add the 2 tablespoons of tomato puree.
It’s time to add grandma’s tricks! Add the cheese rind and the bay leaf.
Cook well for about 20-25 minutes until the potatoes and pumpkin are nice and soft and easily fall apart. Continue to add hot broth as needed to prevent it from drying out too much.
Remove the bay leaf.
If you want a creamier and velvety texture, blend about half of the contents of the saucepan with an immersion blender.
If you prefer it rustic, skip this step.
Return the soup to the heat. Add the broken spaghetti and cook, adding more broth as needed. The soup will be ready when the spaghetti is cooked al dente.
Once ready, serve it nice and hot!
Drizzle with a little raw extra virgin olive oil and give a generous sprinkle of grated cheese (if you like).
You’ll see, it’s a really simple but incredibly tasty dish, full of traditional flavor.
Bon appétit….
Tips
Cut the potatoes and pumpkin into similar-sized cubes, but especially not too large.
The potatoes, if cut smaller, will fall apart earlier during cooking and release more starch, ensuring natural creaminess without having to blend completely.
Try to use white or mealy potatoes (like Yukon Gold or similar) because they are rich in starch and greatly contribute to the velvety consistency.
It’s important to slowly brown the onion and carrots over low heat. This step extracts the sweetness and flavor, which are the base of the entire soup.
Broken spaghetti absorbs a lot of liquid. It’s better if the soup is slightly more brothy before putting in the pasta, as the pasta (once cooked) will absorb the excess broth, reaching the perfect density.
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