Kabocha Squash Soup With Pomegranate Seeds & Spicy Candied P

Total Time: 45 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 (2 1/2 lb) kabocha squash, peeled, cleaned and diced into 3/4 -inch pieces
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups heavy cream
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup pecan halves
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or espelette, to taste)
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

Recipe

• 1 heat a 4-quart sauce pan or small pot over low heat. add the butter and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, 3 to 5 minutes.
• 2 stir in the squash, broth and cream, and season with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and one-fourth teaspoon pepper. bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, loosely covered, until the squash is tender, about 20 minutes.
• 3 puree the soup in a blender, or using an immersion blender, and pass through a strainer to remove any remaining solids. you should have about 9 cups soup. set aside in a warm place until ready to serve.
• 4 while the soup is cooking, candy the pecans. place the sugar and water in a small saucepan, stirring to moisten all of the sugar. bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat and cook, evaporating the water and cooking the sugar, until a thermometer inserted in the liquid reads 265 degrees (hard ball stage for sugar), 10 to 12 minutes. immediately remove from heat.
• 5 add the pecans and pepper powder to the sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until cool. the sugar will crystallize (or seize) as it cools, forming a cloudy hard coating around the nuts; this is fine.
• 6 when the nuts have cooled, heat a clean, medium pan over moderate heat. stir in the crystallized nuts and stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar coating on each nut caramelizes. remove from heat and allow the caramelized nuts to cool on a sheet of parchment paper.
• 7 ladle the soup into bowls and serve garnished with a small handful of spiced candied pecans and a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds.