Roasted Kumara and Crab Bisque

Posted for ZWT5. Originally found http://australianfood.about.com/od/soupssalads/r/KumaraBisque.htm - recipe by Syrie Wongkaew, About.com. The nutritious Kumara, also known as the sweet potato, has been cultivated in New Zealand for thousands of years. It comes in a variety of colors including red, gold, orange and white. The sweet root vegetable can be baked, fried, steamed, candied and pureed. The options are endless. This recipe calls for the Kumara to be first baked to enhance its sweetness, then boiled, pureed and finally, strained. The result is a velvety bisque topped with succulent crab and a dash of pesto.

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 4-6
• Yields: 4-6 bowls of soup

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 large squash, cut into chunks
• 1  white kumara, peeled and thinly sliced (sweet potato)
• 1  orange kumara, cut into chunks (sweet potato)
•  olive oil, for drizzling
•  honey, for drizzling
• 1  pinch sea salt
• 1  pinch pepper
• 1  pinch paprika
• 1  large  white onion, chopped
• 1  tablespoon olive oil
• 1  tablespoon butter
• 6  cups  organic  chicken stock
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1  cup  cream
• 1  handful basil leaves
• 1⁄8 cup  freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 8  pine nuts
• 1  garlic clove
• 1⁄4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1  kg  crab, quartered

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F
2. Using a really sharp knife finely chop half the basil leaves and garlic clove together. Add the rest of the basil and pinenuts and keep chopping. Add the freshly grated parmesan and continue to chop until it's incorporated with the basil mixture. Once the pesto is really finely chopped, add the 1/4 cup of olive oil and stir well. Set aside.
3. Lay the squash and orange kumara out on a baking tray fleshy side up. Drizzle with olive oil and honey. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika. Cover with foil and cook for 1 hour or until soft. Set aside to cool.
4. Meanwhile, add the remaining olive oil and butter to a large stock pot. Add the onions and sweat for about 25 minutes on a low heat. Stir regularly to stop the onions from caramelizing.
5. Add the white kumara and 1 tsp of salt to the pot and stir well. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
6. Next add the chicken stock and stir.
7. Scoop out the flesh from the cooled pumpkin and orange kumara and add to the pot. Add the cream and 1/2 tsp of salt. Bring to the boil for 10 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, steam the crab until done (about 10 minutes.) Remove flesh from crab and set aside.
9. Gently ladle the soup, vegetables and all, into the blender. Cover and hold lid down firmly and then blend.
10. Pour the blended soup through a strainer back into a pot. You may have to do this in batches. Add about 1 cup of the leftover pulp to the strained soup and stir.
11. Once ready to serve, ladle soup into bowls and top with crab meat and drizzle with pesto.