Autumn Inspirations - Creamy Pumpkin Soup

This is my first fall. Of course I have lived through autumn before, but I have never experienced it North American style. There has been a mass immigration of pumpkins in the city. They are everywhere, sitting ceremoniously on church steps and relaxing on front porches, enjoying the afternoon sunshine. The trees are definitely more entertaining with their raspberry pink and tangerine orange leaves. I’ve also had my first Thanksgiving. As far as I can tell it’s a glorified harvest festival but without the need to donate tinned food to church for those less fortunate.  There is also the added bonus that everyone gets the day off to eat turkey and say thanks for stuff that grows in the ground.  Although there is turkey involved, everyone seems much more relaxed about it. It is the less stressful, more casual version of Christmas. So with a fall theme in mind, here is the first in a series of recipes I’ve tried out over the last couple of weeks. This creamy pumpkin soup is probably one of the nicest soups I’ve ever made, so if you try out anything at all, I would wholeheartedly suggest this. Let me know how you get on.

Creamy Pumpkin Soup



Me and the huge pumpkin

I started off intending to use the entire 11lb pumpkin I had bought, but as this recipe involves roasting the pumpkin first, I only had enough room and roasting tins to use up half the pumpkin. So I’ve based this recipe on 5.5lbs of pumpkin (so roughly 2.5kgs) and I ended up with 2 roasting trays of pumpkin. Use the biggest pan you have got, one that will hold at least 3 litres of liquid.
6 cloves garlic
6 stems of rosemary, finely chopped
1 tsp chilli flakes
Olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
25g butter
Salt & pepper
2 litres chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
150mls double cream (heavy cream)

Start by washing the pumpkin. Dry it off and place on a tea towel before you start cutting into it so that it is less likely to slip. Cut a smallish circle around the stem like a lid and begin scooping out the seeds with your hands. Put the seeds to one side and save them – you can make a spicy bar snack from them later! When you can’t remove anymore seeds this way, start to cut the pumpkin in half and use a spoon to scrape the seeds and stringy orange insides away from the harder flesh. Once it is cleaned out cut one half of the pumpkin into half again (as if around its middle), and finish up with wedges about the size of 6-8cm big. Fill up a roasting tray with the wedges and into each tray (based on 2 trays) scatter 3 garlic cloves (in their skins), the finely chopped rosemary leaves from 3 stems and ½ tsp chilli flakes. Finally drizzle with 2 ½ tbsps olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Toss the ingredients so that everything is well covered and place into a hot oven (400F/200C/Gas Mark 6) and roast for 50 minutes. Give the pan a shake every 15 minutes or so.


Before roasting



After

Once the pumpkin is roasted (you should be able to stick a knife in it smoothly), leave it to cool. As it cools, in your large pan, fry off the onion in some butter for 5 minutes until soft. Scrape the pumpkin flesh away from the skin with a spoon and add to the pan. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves from their skins into the pan, and throw in any rosemary leaves too. Pour on the stock, bring to the boil, reduce the heat, place a lid on and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Finish by pureeing in a blender or with a hand blender. Stir in 150mls double cream for a creamy luxurious soup. If you are feeling saintly then leave it out or try some low fat crème fraiche instead. Blend again to mix in the cream. Serve with crusty bread.