Cooking at my father's

     I first want to say that today is my birthday.  It doesn't really have anything to do with this post, but I love this day.  Even though this day now means that I am a year older (29!), it is still the best day of the year!  It is a day all about me!  Who could ask for more?  Now, onto the food blog...
     I am, first of all, amazed at the difference in kitchens between a foodie such as myself and a bachelor such as my Dad.  He only had one bowl!  One!  It is rather difficult to make a soup when we only had one bowl to serve it in.  Fortunately, my friend Gayana (who was over at the time) suggested serving it in mugs.  He also doesn't have a cookie sheet, which meant I didn't get to make fiery pumpkin seeds over there.  I hope they are still okay.  However, despite a lack of basic (to me) equipment, I was very happy to cook for my father.  After all, this was the man who cooked for me for a good twenty years or so of my life.  I want to return the favor. 
     I decided to make Pumpkin-fried apple soup with leeks and bacon after seeing it in the food section of our local newspaper.  Gotta love the food section!  Doesn't the name itself make you salivate?  After a few failed attempts to make this soup (I swear I was cursed for a while), we finally got it all together on a wednesday night and started to make it.  Alas, there were problems from the first...
     In retrospect, I should not have tried to make a new recipe when we had a time limit.  On that wednesday night, we had tickets to see the comedian Gallagher at Club Nokia in LA (right across from the Staple's center).  The show started at 8, so we figured we would leave San Pedro around 6:30.  I decided to start cooking at 5, figuring an hour would be enough time to cook and eat with time to spare.  Alas, I was wrong.  Chopping up vegetables is a lot of work.  Especially when there is no chopping knife to be had in the house.  My friend Gayana was over at the time and she graciously decided to help me chop.  We had two serrated long knives (they looked more like bread knives) and two chopping boards and we went at it.  Chopped onion, garlic, apples and leek.  Can I say that I've never ever cooked with leeks before?  I had to look up what parts to use and how to chop it.  I'm not even sure I used all the right parts.  Out of curiosity, I tried a little raw.  Whoo!  It was like a concentrated onion...  Scott cooked the bacon and set it aside.  We mixed everything else together with canned pumpkin and water and let it simmer for 15 minutes.  Despite other chefs in the kitchen who wanted to do other things! ;-)  Here's the recipe:

PUMPKIN-FRIED APPLE SOUP WITH LEEKS AND BACON

Ingredients:
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 apples (cut in small cubes)
16 slices of bacon (we ended up using about 12)
1 large leek
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup chopped onion (I just was lazy and used a whole onion)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup water

Steps:
1. Fry the bacon in a frying pan and remove the slices when it is crispy and set aside.
2. Chop the apples, leek, garlic and onion and add to the bacon grease.  Fry on medium heat until soft.
3. In a medium sized pan bring the pumpkin puree and water to a boil.  Add the fried apple, leeks, garlic, and onion and simmer on low for 15 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Crumble the bacon and add to the soup right before serving.  Serve immediately




Pumpkin-Fried apple soup with leek and bacon



The final result in a mug!



Showing off my soup



The whole family enjoys!

 
     The verdict?  Definitely yummy, but it took too long and ended up more like a really thick stew than a soup.  I think, in retrospect, it would have been nice to put an immersion blender in there and then add in the bacon.  Also, it took way too long to make!  Some of this was from not having the right equipment but still!  We ended up leaving late and then got stuck in traffic and then lost in LA.  Fortunately, we didn't miss one minute of the show.  But the getting lost story is another thing in itself!