Pumpkin Soup

After gouging out the seeds and making snacks of them the other day, I really had to get a move on with  the rest of the pumpkin and thought pumpkin soup would be the answer. Besides I wanted to make a Jack O’Lantern with it, ready for Halloween.

(When I was young, in the far North of England, we never saw a pumpkin and instead carved lanterns from turnips!)

Still, civilisation has advanced since then and even in the Grim North, pumpkins are freely available now. I started by scooping out the flesh

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There was a fair amount of flesh in there

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I thought that the best way of dealing with it was to roast it first to deepen the flavour. I sprinkled it with chilli oil, salt and paprika ….

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That went into an oven at 175 degrees and while that was roasting I started on the soup base. Onions, of course, a clove of garlic, a little bit of chopped dried chilli

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After the onion had softened in some oil and some stock, the pumpkin was browning nicely

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The dark bits were caramellised and sweet, the rest of it was soft and golden… perfect. That could now go into the pan with the softened onions

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Stir it round and watch it all sink into a lovely, soft mess of pumpkin and onion. Now you can add some more stock to thin it down… maybe some milk or, remember I told you about adding dried milk? That doesn’t add extra fluid but does add extra taste.

Then stick in your hand blender (surely one of the greatest inventions ever? This is my Dualit which I would hate to be without and that we got as a wedding present. Thanks B&T!)

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See how the colour changes? Lightens as it becomes smooth and silky?

And that’s it.

Serve it in a bowl, with a swirl of chilli oil to spike it up a bit and a lovely fresh baked roll to go with it….

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And at the end of it… I still had the pumpkin and a sharp knife. Happy Halloween!

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4 thoughts on “Pumpkin Soup”

  1. Wendy I am laughing. We have been out visiting all day and got a pumpkin on our way back.. I said to Chris that I would like to try doing pumpkin soup as i’ve never tried it homemade before.. and voila, you have a recipe reading and waiting!! you’re a star! I’m gonna do it tomorrow for lunch.

  2. Looks just delicious! So much depends on the flavour of the pumpkin though: I’ve made some lots which were lovely, and some which were utterly tasteless. I think more than most other veg a lot of pumpkins are grown for size without a thought to the flavour. Being a bargain hunter I will be looking for reduced pumpkins in the shops this week!

  3. I shall be getting some as well, Judes…. and remember that if you pick ones with unblemished skins, their lovely hard rind will keep the pumpkins fresh for a few weeks yet! Shops will be selling them off to clear space and we will be laughing! (And also their beautiful colour always cheers me up! Who needs flowers when you have lovely orange pumpkins?)

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