A plant-based pumpkin soup

& a porcelain manufactory tour 🍽

Last week, I was lucky enough to co-host a cozy soup lunch with Nymphenburg Porzellan Manufaktur, where we were given a tour of the 275-year-old manufactory and have a go at designing our own plates. Afterwards, I cooked up a hot ginger-pumpkin-coconut soup with scallion oil, topped with a spicy quinoa granola and served with a side of freshly baked focaccia - (recipes will be at the end of this post). 

Walking into the Nymphenburg feels like walking into another century. The smell of turpentine and clove oil greets you once you open the door to the Malerei (painting room), where you’ll find the team of artists sitting at their stations, with their tasks of the day - anything from the blue-white Bavarian diamond pattern, elaborate floral bouquets, or underwater algae and creatures. Nymphenburg is one of the last porcelain producers in the world where every single part of the process is done by hand, from the porcelain mixing and sculpting to every last brushstroke. Even the mechanical equipment is powered by the estate’s stream.

I mean… look at Dieter Zeus - one of the last porcelain mixers on earth!

Since their inception, they’ve pushed porcelain to its limits, collaborating with a range of artists who were avant-garde for their time. Look at this paper-thin porcelain, by Ruth Gurvich, for instance!!! I’m personally far too clumsy to own anything this delicate, but they’re outrageously beautiful.

Lightscape Collection - via Nymphenburg

Since every last detail is painted by hand, any design can be fully customised - customers have been known to request their initials to be incorporated into the floral framing, or for specific flowers to be replaced by other varieties. They’re also known for their figurines and trinkets, and their beautiful porcelain animals.

via Nymphenburg

Inside the painting room…

I do realise that you’ve signed up for a soup newsletter, not Porcelain 101, so on to the recipes!

The (entirely plant-based) Menu

Below you will find recipes* for:

• The Lemongrass Broth (used in The Pumpkin Soup)

• The Pumpkin Soup

• The Quinoa Granola

• The Scallion Oil

• * in the case of The Focaccia, I’m linking the recipe I swear by ;)

Many people relegate pumpkins and squash to Autumn, associating them with kitschy tabletop decor, Halloween jack-o-lanterns, PSLs for ugg-wearing girls, or Thanksgiving pies. Most pumpkins are harvested in October. The great thing is that pumpkins last forever if stored properly (in a cool, dark place), so you can enjoy them through late winter! For today’s soup, we’re using Hokkaido pumpkins. They are subtly sweet, roast really well, and make for a super creamy soup when blended.

I made a vegan lemongrass stock for this soup, but you can use any broth or stock for this recipe. Stock cubes are totally fine. You can also cook up some stock cubes and infuse them with a bit of lemongrass to save time. If you have the time and ingredients, however, I highly recommend making my lemongrass broth below!

The soup recipe below serves 4, the focaccia and granola serve more like 12 but can also be stored for a couple of days (focaccia) and a couple of weeks (granola).