Once again, the pumpkin is the centre of attention. This time I have prepared a pumpkin soup and placed a pumpkin beer alongside it; with a bit of spiciness, Asian style. For the soup, I pureed a Hokkaido pumpkin with vegetable stock and coconut milk. The spices were garlic, ginger, curry, chilli, cinnamon and salt and pepper. The dish was accompanied by organic black tiger prawns on a wooden skewer and fresh baguette bread from the local family bakery Café Pieper.
For the beer accompaniment, I chose a Spiced Pumpkin Ale brewed by Braumanufaktur Pohlmann together with Brauprojekt 777. The beer is produced by hand in the museum brewery in the Hagen Open-Air Museum and bottled in Steinie bottles. The beer is spiced with autumnal ingredients such as clove, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla beans and honey. The honey comes from bees that live at the Zollverein coal mine in Essen. This immediately took me on a mental journey; back to a time when I had my office for years in the immediate vicinity of the famous Doppelbock (in this context, this does not mean beer). Did you know that when it was in operation, Schacht XII was considered the most powerful colliery in the world? You absolutely have to visit the Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once I was even allowed to go about 1,000 metres underground to visit the huge pumping systems for an editorial project, which are used in various places to prevent the Ruhr area from being flooded. Very impressive. Thank you very much for the wonderful journey back in time. Cheers & Bon appétit!
Recipe
Ingredients:
1 Hokkaido pumpkin
1 clove garlic
a little ginger
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp curry powder
750ml vegetable stock
250ml coconut milk
1 chilli pepper
salt, pepper, cinnamon
Black Tiger prawns
Baguette bread
Preparation:
1. Dice the pumpkin, sauté together with garlic, ginger and spices in a pot. Add the stock and coconut milk, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Puree the pumpkin finely with a hand blender. Dress the soup with salt, pepper and a little cream and add the chilli pieces.
3. Fry the prawns in a pan and arrange on a wooden skewer together with the pumpkin soup.
Source: Original recipe from Rewe; I have adapted the recipe slightly.