Zelda month continues this week, with another recipe from Twilight Princess. Despite its innocuous name, this ‘Good Soup’ is really quite delicious.
After completing the Simple Soup in Snowpeak Ruins, you can bring Yeto an Ordon Pumpkin to create the more hearty and health fulfilling Good Soup. This recipe was developed from scratch, so I’ll be going over how to make your own homemade vegetable stock and roasting whole pumpkins. If you don’t have the time, however, pre-made veg stock and canned pumpkin can be substituted.
Whatever your preferred pumpkin preparation may be, click ‘Continue Reading,’ and let’s get cooking!
+ Vegetable Stock (“Court Bouillon”) +
This is a very simple, and classical preparation and was one of the first things I was taught how to make in culinary school. This recipe is for a gallon of stock; the excess of which can be easily frozen and saved for future recipes. Regardless of how much you intend to make, the ratio of vegetables is almost always 2 oz onion : 1 oz carrot : 1 oz celery. Since the vegetables will be eventually strained out, it isn’t imperative that they be cut into a uniform dice; that being said, it’s a great opportunity to practice your knife skills, so please follow along if you’re interested in leveling up 😉
ITEMS
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Onion | 3 small (~16 oz) |
| Carrot | 3 each (~8 oz) |
| Celery | 4 stalks (~8 oz) |
| Bouquet Garni* | 1 each |
| Cold Water | 4 qts |
| White Wine | 1 cup |
EQUIP
- Large Stock Pot
- Cutting Board
- Sharp Kitchen Knife
- Strainer/Colander
WALKTHROUGH
You can check out the Simple Soup recipe for details on the proper way to hold a knife, as well as how to easily dice an onion!
- CELERY: Cut off the bottom and top parts of the celery stalks, and make sure they are clean of any dirt. Cut the stalks in half, and then flatten each piece with your hand or flat of the knife. Use a sharp knife to slice the celery pieces lengthwise into strips about 3/8″ to 1/2″ wide. Bunch these strips together with one hand and cut them perpendicular in 3/8″ to 1/2″ intervals.
- CARROTS: Use a vegetable peeler to peel the carrots, and cut them crosswise into more manageable lengths (maybe in half or into thirds). Using a sharp knife, cut off a small slice as in the first frame below. Turn the carrot over on to this flat base, to provide more stability, as you slice lengthwise into 3/8″ to 1/2″ strips. Stack up two or three of these flat strips at a time and repeat the process to achieve a julienne (3rd frame below). Chop perpendicularly, in much the same way as the celery above for achieve your dice.
- ONIONS: See my last recipe for tips on how to dice an onion.
Congratulations! You’ve made a mirepoix! - Add all of your diced vegetables to a large stock pot along with bouquet garni* (fancy name for a bundle of fresh herbs. I just used what I had on hand, which was thyme and parsley stems; no worries if you need to leave this part out though!). Cover the veg with 4 quarts of cold water and 1 cup of white wine, and bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the pot starts boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and let it bubble for about 30 min.
- After 30 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and use a colander on top of another large pot to strain out the vegetables, then discard them. Reserve the vegetable stock in the second pot until it cools slightly; at which time you can keep a quart handy for the next part of the recipe and freeze the remainder, in plastic containers.
+ Roasted Pumpkin Soup +
ITEMS
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Pumpkin | ~ 5 lbs (I used 2 smaller ones) |
| Vegetable Oil | 2 TBSP |
| Salt | to taste |
| Pepper | to taste |
| Leeks | 2 each |
| Onion (sliced) | 1 each |
| Butter | 4 TBSP |
| Salt | 1 tsp + 1 1/2 tsp |
| Vegetable Stock | 1 qt |
| Lemon Juice | 2 lemons’ worth |
EQUIP
- Large Roasting Pan
- Large Stock Pot
- Cutting Board
- Sharp Knife
- Blender or Stick Blender
- Mesh Strainer
- Spatula
WALKTHROUGH
- Preheat the oven to 375F, and line a large roasting pan with parchment paper or foil.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the stems off of your pumpkin(s) and then slice right through from top to bottom.
- Using a spoon, scoop out all of the seeds and stringy flesh from the inside and discard (or you can reserve it to make your own toasted pumpkin seeds! Check out this recipe).
- Using your hands, coat the pumpkin halves inside and out with the 2 TBSP of vegetable oil. Season the inside of the pumpkin with salt and pepper, to your liking. (I also sprinkled in some ground cloves, cinnamon, and allspice for more of that classic pumpkin taste and aroma).
- Place the pumpkin halves cut-side down in the roasting pan and place them in the oven for about 1 hour and 15 min, or until it becomes extremely tender.
While the pumpkins are roasting, we can begin on the next part of the soup.
Although you are most likely familiar with onions, you may have never cooked with leeks before. I’m sure you’d recognize them, though:
6. To begin prepping your leeks, use a sharp knife to cut off the large green leaves as well as the bottom, leaving just the white portion. Slice the leek in half lengthwise, and be sure to wash out any dirt or mud you may find inside (they do grow out of the ground after all!). Once cleaned, slice the leek as thinly as you can, going against the grain.
7. Slice the onion thinly as well, and add both vegetables to a large pot along with 4 TBSP of butter and 1 tsp of salt. Keep the heat on medium low, as to not cause any browning. Cook the veg for about 5 minutes, until it becomes very soft.
8. After the vegetables have been cooked down, add 1 quart of veg stock to the pot and reduce the heat to very low as we wait for the pumpkins to finish roasting.
Take a moment to stop and smell the pumpkins….. Ok.
9. Let the roasted pumpkins cool until you can handle them (they will be very hot!)
10. Once you are able, scoop out the pumpkin flesh with a large spoon and add it to the pot. All that should remain is the pumpkin skin, which can be discarded. 
11. Bring the heat back up to a simmer, adding the lemon juice and the remaining 1 and 1/2 tsp of salt; cook the pumpkins with the broth for 10-15 minutes.
12. At this point, depending on your available hardware, you can either use a blender to puree the soup in small batches, or use a stick blender to puree it right in the pot. The goal here is simply to get the soup to a smooth consistency. 
13. The last step is just to use a mesh strainer, or sieve, and a spatula to pass the soup in order to make sure it’s perfectly smooth and delicious!
You did it! ‘Good’ job!
Hey! Thanks for reading all the the way to the end! You’re awesome :D! If you haven’t already and are looking for more nerdy food stuff, consider following me on Twitter, Facebook, tumblr and Instagram. I post a lot of work in progress pictures for the blog as well as some stuff from my real job as a pastry chef. If that sounds like something you’d be into, please check out those links above! Anyway, take care everyone and I’ll see you soon with an all new recipe!
