An easy recipe full of goodness. There are many different variety of pumpkins (ie, in the super market you might find them called 'squash'. It's the same thing). For this soup recipe choose the orange coloured pumpkin (squash). For more details regarding the different variety, check on the Food52 website.
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 garlic & cloves
- 1bay leaf
- 25g/1oz unsalted >butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium pumpkin(prepared weight about 850g/1lb 14oz) deseeded and roughly chopped
- 1 medium-sized floury potato, such as Maris Piper, roughly chopped
- 1 litre/1¾ pint vegetable or chicken stock, a little extra may be needed
- 100ml/3½fl oz double cream
- 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
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Put the onion, carrots, garlic bay leaf, butter and half the olive oil into a large pan. Cook over a low - medium heat for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender but not coloured.
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Add the squash and potato, mix to combine and cook for a further 2 - 3 minutes. Pour in the stock, season well and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, half cover the pan with a lid and continue to cook for about 40 minutes until the squash is really tender when tested with the point of a knife.
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Pick out the bay leaf and blend the soup until smooth using a stick blender.
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Add the cream and a little more stock if the soup is on the thick side, taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as required.
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Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the pumpkin seeds and fry quickly until the seeds start to pop. Remove from the pan.
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Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with a swirl of cream and the toasted pumpkin seeds. Remember to remove the white shell from the seed.
