7 lb. Pumpkin (whole) 2 c. bread-crumbs 10 Tbsp. butter 2 c. onion (chopped) 2 1/2 quarts stock (chicken or veg.) 1 c. swiss cheese (grated) 1/2 c. parsley chopped 1 c. heavy cream 1 tsp. sage
Cut a neat hole on the top of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and string bits. Rub 2 Tbsp. of softened butter all around the inside of the pumpkin.
Dry the bread-crumbs in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for 15 minutes. Meanwhile fry the onion in 8 Tbsp. butter over a gentle flame until soft and translucent for about 15 minutes. Add the bread-crumbs and toss for a further 3 minutes. Put the onion-crumb mixture and the grated swiss-cheese into the pumpkin.
Bring the stock to a simmer and pour into the pumpkin until it come upto two inches of the top. Season with salt, pepper and sage.
Place pumpkin on a slightly buttered pizza-stone or plate or bowl and place in a pre-heated 400 F oven. The soup should be ready in 1 1/2 hours. Do not overcook, esle the pumpkin may collapse. Add the cream and parsley, season with salt and pepper if needed and serve scraping off pieces off the side of the pumpkin.
As a variant, or if the pumpkin or squash is not big enough to hold 3 quarts of soup, you can make the soup in a pot. Just peel the pumpkin, seed it, and dice. As before, bring the stock-bread-cheese mixture to a simmer in a pot, add the diced pumpkin/squash, and simmer on the stovetop (or over at 400 F) for 1 1/2 hours. Add cream, chopped parsley and serve.