The Pumpkin Bowl

There are two ways to start the following recipe for a delightful Pumpkin Bisque: Go to a farmers market or, better yet, a farm. Choose a cooking pumpkin. Bring it home. Roast it in the oven until its fragrance fills the kitchen. Then puree the pulp. Or open a can.

Either way, you’ll find that the pumpkin’s smooth texture and mild flavor make it a great soup base. Start with fresh pumpkin and you’ll have an incomparable feast within two hours; use canned pumpkin and you’ll have a nourishing entree in less than 20 minutes.

The perfect dessert with this one-dish entree is Brett Knobel’s Cornmeal Cookies. Knobel, owner of Brett’s restaurant on the north side of Chicago, says her staff can go through platters of the rich cookies before they ever reach the customers. The recipe is a basic sugar cookie; the cornmeal adds a pleasant crunchy texture.

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Bennett is the author of “Dinner for Two” (Barron’s, 1994).

PUMPKIN BISQUE

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 pound Canadian bacon, diced

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

Peel of 1 lemon, cut into strips

1/3 cup half and half

Melt butter in medium pan. Add onion and Canadian bacon and saute until bacon is lightly browned. Add white wine and cook until reduced to 1 tablespoon, 4 to 5 minutes. Add chicken broth and pumpkin puree. Stir in thyme and lemon peel. Add half and half and simmer 5 minutes. Do not allow to boil. Serve hot.

2 servings. Each serving:

477 calories; 1,174 mg sodium; 60 mg cholesterol; 37 grams fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams protein; 3.33 grams fiber.

BRETT KNOBEL’S CORNMEAL COOKIES

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup cornmeal

1 3/4 cups flour

If you don’t want to bake all the cookies at once, rolls of dough can be frozen up to two months. Thaw the dough in the refrigerator, slice and bake. The baked cookies also freeze well.

Cream butter and sugar by beating until light. Add egg and beat thoroughly. Add vanilla and beat again. Stir in salt, cornmeal and flour to form stiff dough.

Shape dough into 2 logs, each 9 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in wax paper and chill until firm, 2 to 3 hours. Cut each roll into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Place slices on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 375 degrees until edges are browned, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack.

54 cookies. Each cookie:

63 calories; 80 mg sodium; 13 mg cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.02 gram fiber.

kitchen tip:

To cook a 2-pound whole pumpkin, cut it into quarters. Remove pulp and seeds. Place pumpkin in roasting pan. Add 1 cup water or chicken broth. Roast pumpkin, covered, at 325 degrees until tender, about 1 hour. When cool enough to handle, scrape flesh from shell and puree. Canned pumpkin is more dense than fresh, so you may want to add slightly less broth to the fresh.