This is a good way to use that extra pumpkin or squash you may have roasted. It makes an unusually pleasing soup.

Ingredients

　　1 medium onion, chopped fine

　　About 2 cups roasted pumpkin or winter-squash chunks (see page 144)

　　2 cups light chicken stock

　　1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

　　Salt

　　1 tablespoon heavy cream, or more as needed

　　A small fresh grating of nutmeg

　　Melt the butter in a small heavy pot, and sauté the onion gently for 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin or squash and stock, and simmer for 30 minutes. Mash the pumpkin or squash right in the soup, using a fork or a potato masher, or, if you prefer a smoother texture, purée the soup with an immersion blender or in a food processor. Stir in the ginger, turn the soup into a warm soup bowl, and spoon the cream over it, with a sprinkling of nutmeg on top.

　　The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.