I am always up for an adventure in the kitchen and a new ingredient was given to me by my cousin Lindsey and her husband Gino as a hostess gift for a recent visit. Lindsey brought me this fabulous gourd from her local grocery store. I find it delightful that she saw this crazy thing and knew I would love it----I guess I am just a fancy gourd kind of girl.

The gourd first served as a centerpiece for our Thanksgiving dinner table, and did a lovely job. After I put the fall things away and hauled the Christmas stuff down from the attic, Mr. Gourd suddenly looked out of place in the dining room. My husband and I contemplated what to do with him next; should we dry him and keep him for next year? Could we make some sort of percussion instrument out of him? And then we began to wonder….could we eat that guy? Make him into a pie? A soup? Can we roast him?

After a little online research we found that Mr. Gourd was a Turk's Turban Gourd and was not only edible but billed as delicious-and that was all I needed to hear. I washed him up and took a knife to him.

After removing the top of the gourd, I was left with the lovely bowl shaped bottom. Just as I would prepare any other squash for roasting, I scraped the seeds and the stringy innards out with a melon baller,  lightly coated the inside of the gourd with olive oil and turned it upside down onto a cookie sheet-then roasted it in a 400 degree oven for 30 min. I did the same with a large butternut squash.

In the mean time, on the stove top, I tossed three coarsely chopped carrots, five chopped ribs of celery, and one chopped medium onion into a large soup pot with some olive oil and cooked them up until soft. I added to that 2 cups of chicken broth and simmered.

Once the gourd was roasted, I used and ice cream scoop to remove the flesh from the inside of the 'bowl', removed the flesh from the butternut squash as well and added both to the pot.

Have I ever mentioned that I really like my immersion blender? I really do. It is a fun kitchen tool to use, and if you have never had one, you really don't know what you are missing. I didn't have an immersion blender for years and now I am not certain how I ever lived without one. Anyway, next I used the immersion blender to make a smooth puree out of the vegetables in the stock. Added milk to thin and the following spices to taste: salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves. And tada! Soup.

Using the gourd shell as a soup tureen for serving made a lovely presentation and this hardy delicious soup was filling dinner when served with whole wheat rolls. I enjoyed this so much that I think I will save the seeds from Mr. Gourd, plant them in the spring and see if I can grow a whole crop to decorate with and eat next fall. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving!