Pumpkin Cream Soup with Crayfish Baked in Pumpkin

The pumpkin is carefully washed, making sure to remove any impurities from the skin, then it is baked in the oven at high heat for about an hour and a half, until it starts to take on a pleasant golden color. This process not only intensifies its aroma but also improves its texture, transforming it into a special ingredient for our soup. While the pumpkin is baking, it is the ideal time to take care of the crayfish. If they are alive, we will freeze them for 30 minutes to anesthetize them, then we wash them very well under a stream of cold water so that they are clean and ready to boil.

In a pot, we place the crayfish together with enough water to completely cover them, add salt, freshly washed dill, and allspice berries. We boil the crayfish for 15 minutes, starting to count the time from the moment the water begins to boil. After boiling, we remove the crayfish and keep the water in which they boiled, straining it to use later in the soup. Once the crayfish have cooled a bit, we start cleaning them: we break off the claws, which we keep for the soup, and remove the meat from the tails, being careful to eliminate the gut inside.

After the baked pumpkin has cooled, we cut off the top to create a lid, then scoop out the seeds and fibers from the inside with a spoon. With the same spoon, we scoop out the pumpkin pulp, being careful to leave the walls intact, about 2 cm thick. The obtained pulp is kept for the soup. The crayfish claws, finely chopped with a blender, are mixed with a little soup from the water in which they boiled, to facilitate the process.

After obtaining a fine puree, it is strained and combined with the pumpkin pulp, which has also been finely chopped. We mix the two purees and gradually thin them with the crayfish soup, adding a little at a time until we reach the desired consistency of cream soup. The obtained soup is poured into a pot and brought to a boil. Here, we add the starch diluted in cold water and a cube of quality butter, mixing everything well. We boil the soup for 2-3 minutes, taste it, and if necessary, add more salt.

The finished soup is carefully poured into the baked pumpkin, leaving about 3 cm from the top edge to prevent overflow in the oven. The pumpkin filled with soup is baked without a lid in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes, until the soup becomes slightly brownish. The final result is a surprisingly tasty, healthy soup that is perfect for the cold season. Enjoy your meal!