CRUISE RECIPE:  SeaDream Yacht Club’s Cream of Pumpkin Soup

Hungry to Sail Again

Like everyone else, I’m just about up to HERE with lockdown.  I want to whip off my mask, plan my next cruise, meet up with friends, go to the gym, the hairstylist, concerts and sporting events and stop worrying where my next roll of toilet paper will come from.

But who knows when this will end?

If the situation extends through late summer, the only thing I’ll be looking forward to is pumpkin season when I’ll be able to score the key ingredient in SeaDream Yacht Club’s Cream of Pumpkin Soup.  It takes a lot to be a star in SeaDream’s extraordinary culinary galaxy but this rich, velvety and delicately spiced soup has been a yacht favorite since the line’s debut in 2001.

I’d definitely prefer savoring this Cream of Pumpkin Soup at sea but if that’s not possible, I’ll open the windows and pretend my dining room is SeaDream’s al fresco Topsiders Restaurant.

SEADREAM YACHT CLUB Cream of Pumpkin Soup

-1 lb. pumpkin, cleaned and without skin (small 1” x 1” cubes)

-2 medium onions, finely chopped

-2 medium carrots, finely chopped

-1 medium leek, white part only, finely chopped

-6 cloves garlic

-½ gallon vegetable stock

-2 cups heavy cream

-Dash saffron

-Salt and pepper

-Olive oil

Garnish

-Chopped cooked lobster meat

-Roasted pumpkin seeds

-Tarragon leaves

-Whipped cream

Directions:

Bring a soup pot to medium/low heat; add a drizzle of olive oil to cover the bottom.  Add pumpkin cubes and cook until softened (without caramelizing).  Add the onions, leek, carrots and garlic and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. 

Add the vegetable stock, saffron and heavy cream.  Bring to boil.  Turn the heat to low and simmer slowly for 50 minutes.

Use an immersion blender or counter blender and puree the soup.  Strain soup through a sieve so it is smooth and creamy.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish:  Place a small dollop of whipped cream in the center of the soup.  Add lobster, roasted pumpkin seeds and a tarragon leaf.

-Judi Cuervo

Judi Cuervo is a New York City native who fell in love with cruising in 1976 during her first sailing aboard Carnival Cruises’ Mardi Gras. Twenty years later, she began her freelance cruise writing gig and, since that time, has covered mass market, ultra-premium, riverboat and expedition ships for regional, national and international publications as well as cruise websites.