Holiday Entertaining, Vitamix Style

Remodelista readers know that we swear by Vitamix blenders for morning smoothies. This time of year, we rely on these powerful contraptions for far more than that: White bean dip, pesto, and raw jam (made with the last fall fruit) are but a few of the blender’s uses. Recently I decided to try out a soup with my Vitamix Professional Series 750 machine, which has a preset soup setting–and the ability to warm up liquid while blending. Here’s how I did it.

N.B.: My recipe was adapted from Pumpkin Soup, one of the many Vitamix-specific recipes at Vitamix; you can search the library by seasonality, dietary needs, and level of difficulty.

Written and photographed by Alexa Hotz for Remodelista.

Materials

• Vitamix Professional Series 750 blender; $639 at Vitamix.com
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup light, unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 small pumpkin
• 2 cloves of garlic, skinned
• Parchment paper
• 1/2 cup onions, sliced and sautéed
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• Salt and ground pepper, to taste

Above: I served the pumpkin soup with a few sliced fuyu persimmons and Seckel pears, which add a sweet note.

Above: As much as I love the convenience of pre-ground cardamom, it’s one spice, I’ve found, that when freshly ground has a special kick to it.

Instructions

Step 1: Prep your ingredients, including all the spices.

Step 2: Halve your pumpkin, remove the seeds, and cut into one-inch wide slices.

Step 3: Place the slices on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet along with the skinned pair of garlic cloves, douse in a bit of olive oil, and roast 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Step 4: Add the vegetable stock, coconut milk, roasted pumpkin (with skin removed), roasted garlic cloves, the sautéed onions, paprika, cardamom, salt, and pepper to the Vitamix Professional Series 750 machine.

Step 5: Start your blending on the Variable Speed Dial at 1 and, over the course of about two minutes, slowly increase to 6.

Step 6: From Variable 6, continue increasing to Variable 10 and blend for six to seven minutes more; the mixture should be warm and ready at this point–just adjust salt, pepper, and other spices to taste.

Step 7: Pour into bowls, garnish if desired, and serve right away.

Above: After roasting the pumpkin and sautéeing the onions, the blending process takes less than 10 minutes. You can toss all your prepped ingredients into the blender, cover, and wait until the moment is right for the final blending. This way your soup is ready when your guests are.