Color of the Day: Orange

I woke up a little before seven today and was greeted by this amazing sunrise.  And while my polaroid application on my iPhone never quite captures the beauty as seen with the naked eye, the colors of this sunrise spurred me into action regarding another large, orange spectacle that has been gracing my kitchen since before Halloween.

This 18-pound Cinderella Pumpkin 'Rouge Vif d'Etampes' is a beautiful French heirloom pumpkin.  It first became available in the U.S. in 1883.  It is a deep orange pumpkin with pronounced ribs and is quite flat and squatty.  I think Cinderella had a good eye when picking her coach for the ball, don't you?  I purchased this lovely gourd from a farmer gal I know here in Valley Ford.  She had several types for sale, but this one spoke to me.

Before I can get down to winter business, I must first clear the house of fall gourds, leaf art and all thinks autumnal.  So you see, I had to dispense of this massive pumpkin and put it to good use.  First order of business was roasting half of it and making a lovely soup.  I would love to share the recipe with you, with a few tweaks and suggestions at the end of the recipe.  Here goes:

Curry Pumpkin and Apple Soup

Adapted from Lisa Hemenway of Fresh in Santa Rosa

Makes 6 to 10 servings

1 T. olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 apples, peeled and chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

1 small, fresh pumpkin, roasted, with skin & seeds removed

1 T. curry powder

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 cup honey

4 cups chicken stock

1 can coconut milk

1 T apple cider vinegar

Salt and white pepper, to taste

Créme fraiche (optional)

Toasted almonds, for garnish

Sauté apples, onions, carrots and celery in olive oil, then add roasted pumpkin, curry, nutmeg and honey.  Add stock and simmer for 45 minutes on low.

Puree the mixture and add the coconut milk.  Season with salt and pepper and finish with the apple cider vinegar.  Drizzle with créme fraiche and garnish with toasted almonds, serve warm.

A friend suggested adding some fresh ginger and I think it would make a nice addition and should probably be added when sautéing the first few ingredients.  Do not use curry paste as a substitute for curry powder (learned the hard way).  Follow the rest of the recipe exactly, as the vinegar and toasted almonds really add a nice finishing touch.  I went easy on the honey, as I didn't want it to be too sweet (and that was a good call).

The other half of this pumpkin went to the chickens, along with the slimy orange innards.  As you can see, they were very pleased.  Maybe you can't tell from the above picture and I'm just the crazy chicken lady in Valley Ford.  Yep.  Probably the latter, but these girls deserved a treat after all the great egg-laying they did earlier this year.  The egg production is slowing down now for winter and I'm hoping to get six more chicks come spring to help up the egg count next year.  The death toll for my hens this last year was heartbreaking.  Lots of tiny grave markers in our bird cemetery.  Wow, did I just bring this post down or what?  Sorry friends.

On a happier note, I successfully dried and saved my very first seeds for next year's garden from this voluptuous pumpkin.  I've never done this before and hope it actually works when I plant them next year for a small pumpkin patch in our lower garden.  I have plenty of seeds leftover and have packaged them up for a giveaway.  If you'd like a small envelope of these heirloom seeds, please leave a comment or email me your address.  I'd just love an excuse to visit the perkiest Postmistress in all the land here in Valley Ford.

The notion that the seeds will live on in a garden somewhere other than mine brings a big smile to my face.  Giving.  Receiving.  Growing.  Sharing.  It's definitely in the air and the when the sky opened up this morning it glowed orange for only a few minutes, but it sparked a list of things for me to work on throughout this day.  Beautiful inspiration.

It feels humbling and gratifying, at the same time, to take my cues from nature.  I have definitely paid closer attention to my surroundings the longer I have lived here at the top of the lane in Valley Ford.  And even though I don't have a pumpkin-shaped coach, I do feel a little like Cinderella (minus the high-heeled glass slippers & adding the lucky rainboots!) living in the country, surrounded by friends, community, the natural world, animals and my sweet, sweet family.