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
There was a fair amount of flesh in there
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 ….
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
After the onion had softened in some oil and some stock, the pumpkin was browning nicely
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
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!)
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….
And at the end of it… I still had the pumpkin and a sharp knife. Happy Halloween!
