This lush smooth soup from Thai-Lao cuisine lends itself beautifully to a Thanksgiving feast. Large wedges of cooking pumpkin, with pale gray-green skins, are sold in Caribbean and Vietnamese and other Southeast Asian groceries. Choose the pumpkin with the reddest flesh. You can also use North American pumpkin or kabocha squash.

serves 8
You might need to buy:
  • cooking pumpkin
  • vegetable broth
  • loosely packed cilantro leaves
  • coarsely ground black pepper
  • minced scallion greens
You might need to buy:
  • olive oil
  • chopped vidalia onion
  • chopped celery
  • chopped carrots
  • garlic
  • water
  • bay leaf
  • italian seasoning
  • salt
  • pepper
  • liquid smoke