A Pumpkin Pairing

Pumpkin Soup with Cran-Apple Relish + 2008 Red Bicyclette Chardonnay: 5/5

On Thursday I was a mime at Robot Lounge’s, my friend’s band, show at the Cubby Bear. After a long night and an entire day to recover on Friday, a rinse and repeat was not sounding all too fun for Halloween. While Michael and I did have this great Idea of going as Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum, me being Heidi of course, I just couldn’t muster the gusto to go. So we made the executive decision to spend this Halloween at home, leaving the perfect opportunity for a poignant pairing.

With and afternoon spent making apple chips, because we are still using up the apples from our apple orchard visit, I was channeling the festive spirit. I wanted to make a fall dish inspired by Halloween. My first thought, split pea soup. Ya’ know, The exorcist, split pea soup? We could watch the movie while enjoying a nice steaming bowl of Reagan (Linda Blair) vomit. Delicious.

Exorcist aside, Michael doesn’t like split pea soup, so I had to come up with another option. So I hit the computer, pulled up my new best friend, The Food Network, and perused the pumpkin recipes. With five stars and 214 reviews and comments, Rachel Ray’s Pumpkin Soup with Chili Cran-Apple Relish http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pumpkin-soup-with-chili-cran-apple-relish-recipe/index.html tingled my taste-buds, and I would get to use some more apples!

The only pumpkin soup I ever had was over seas. I had the opportunity to go to New Zealand with the boys choir I sang with in high school. Whomever coordinated our trip decided that buffets were a perfect fit for two tour busses full of adolescent boys. By the end, I think we had eaten at every buffet on the two islands. Some buffets were fancier than others, some had seafood, others had decedent dessert bars, others just plain awful, and some were a hybrid of a sit down restaurant and buffet. In the case of the latter, a soup course would be served as an appetizer, while each table was allowed to browse the buffet. In most instances, the soup would be a bland, creamy orange liquid with a grainy texture. No spice, depth, or richness, just a monotone pumpkin puree. Although I was only 16, I knew flavorful, and that pumpkin soup was not it. Maybe it was a New Zealand thing, they also eat Vegemite and make their scrambled eggs runny.

So I was a little hesitant in making pumpkin soup, especially after reading some reviews that complained the soup was a bit bland. But reluctantly I decided I would give it a shot, and if worse came to worse I would play with the seasoning to take it up a notch.

The preparation is not hard, and coming from 30-minute meals, didn’t take to long either. The last step is to add 2 cups of heavy cream and season with nutmeg. I tasted a spoonful before adding the cream. Rich flavors of thyme, celery, onion and pumpkin saturated my palate, no blandness here. So I added the cream, expecting the flavor to stay the same, I stirred and simmered, and went in for another taste. The creamy texture coated the back of my spoon perfectly and the smell of halloween wrapped me like gauze from a mummy. I took the spoon to my mouth, feeling the warmth of the liquid wrap itself around my tongue. All of those rich flavors I had tasted before seemed to disappear. The texture was right, but the flavor was gone.

So I thought, and then started to play. The great thing about soup, you can always fix it. By introducing new flavors in small increments, no soup is a lost cause. Just hold your spoon in hand, and cleanse your palate before each bite. To mine, I added 2oz of pumpkin, some salt and pepper, cinnamon, more hot sauce, some Mrs. Dash, Montreal chicken seasoning, and what brought everything together, a light dusting of chipotle chili powder. With my last taste, the richness returned and beneath the surface there was a growing chipotle heat.

According to this cool website I found www.winedin.com, where you can put in food and it will suggest a wine, Pumpkin soup goes best with Chardonnay, Viognier, or Gewürztraminer. As we passed the chilled wine section, Michael spotted a 2008 Red Bicyclette Chardonnay from Southwestern France. With bright oak, tropical fruit, and vanilla flavors, I thought that the profile would accompany the richness of the soup. And to include into our Halloween evening, the image of the bicycle on the bottle had a basket, reminiscent of Elmira Gulch, The Wicked Witch of The West.

The combination of the crunchy apple relish, the smoothness of the soup, and the added texture from the cooked celery and onion made my palate keen and sensitive. The wine provided a bath for my tongue, refreshing and able to handle the buttery texture of the soup. Little sweet bits of cranberry held hands with the tropical fruit flavors of the Chardonnay, while the vanilla undertones swirled with the cinnamon and honey of the soup. This was not the pumpkin soup of New Zealand, this was fit for the Queen of England.

Satiated and satisfied we curled up on the couch to watch a scary movie, while apple crisp cooked in the oven. Cozy smells cinnamon and brown sugar washed over us like a blanket of silk. Sometimes moments spent in on nights known for unrest are some of the best remembered. Another perfect pair.