Local Kitchen by Kaela Porter is a brand new blog to me and one that I can see I’ll be living vicariously through as many of the recipes are gluten-free as well as just downright awesome. This pumpkin soup with chocolate & chipotle is something I haven’t seen before and looks and sounds absolutely delicious. Another recent recipe that she posted was for Meyer Lemon Pork Rolls, another one that I just might be indulging in sometime soon. This pumpkin soup — just for its sheer inventiveness — is this weeks featured recipe. Enjoy!
Photo by Kaela Porter
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“Pumpkin soup in May. I know what you’re thinking: she’s finally lost that last (lonely) marble. But hear me out: I realized yesterday that June is nearly upon us; and with June comes the first onslaught of seasonal produce. My CSA will start, and with it kale, chard, cabbage and all those gorgeous Spring greens. Strawberries will show up in June as well, ripe for the picking. And then the summer squashes and cucumbers start coming, and cherries and raspberries, then before you know it, we’re drowning in tomatoes and peaches, and elbow deep in preserving every night of the week. Now is the time my friends: now is the time to take stock of the chest freezer, eat up last season’s put-ups, and defrost the freezer in anticipation of squirreling away another season’s produce. You’ll want that freezer space when it’s 12:54 am on a sultry August weeknight and you simply can’t face firing up the canner one more time (you know it’ll happen).
So, in the category of “taking my own advice” (something I so rarely do), I took stock of the situation in the chest freezer yesterday. And things are good, if your criteria is a varied, healthy and local diet; things are not so good if you need to empty and defrost said chest freezer sometime within the next month. I’ve still got plenty of kale, zucchini & pattypan squash, pole beans and wax beans, corn and various bell peppers, juices and stocks, blueberries, currants and cranberries. That’s not to mention a recent big order from Flying Pigs, a couple of loaves of Wave Hill bread and various flours from Wild Hive Farm. While certainly I can (and will) put some of these frozen goods into coolers, and my kitchen freezer, for half a day while I accomplish the defrosting, I don’t have that many coolers. Life will be so much easier if I just use up, or can for shelf-stable storage, some of that produce first…”
