Lightly Spiced Pumpkin Soup
An autumn favourite, this delicious and warming pumpkin soup is too good to keep just for Halloween
Ingredients
- 1 medium pumpkin
- 125 g butter
- 2 onions
- 2 carrots
- 2 sticks celery
- 1 leek
- 2 tsp ground cummin
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 potato
- 2 litre chicken stock (or water and stock cubes)
Instructions
Roasting the Pumpkin
- Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds
- Reserve the seeds for toasting
- Cut each half of the pumpkin into four and lay the pieces on a baking tray
- Melt the butter in a soup pan.
- Use a little of the butter to brush the flesh of the pumpkin.
- Roast the pumpkin in a preheated oven (180ºC, gas mark 4-5) for about an hour, or until the edges start to colour and the flesh softens.
Toasting the Pumkin Seeds
- Remove any flesh from the seeds
- Rinse them under cold water then pat the seeds dry
- Toss the seeds in a little olive oil and spread them out on a baking tray.
- Roast them in the same oven as the pumpkin until golden brown
- During roasting turning them occasionally to ensure they brown evenly
- When ready, toss them in a bowl with a sprinkle of salt
- Leave to cool.
- (Any extra seeds make a great snack and will keep well in an airtight container for a week or more.)
Making the Soup
- While the pumpkin roasts, dice the onion, carrot, leek and celery
- Add the vegetables to the melted butter in the soup pan.
- Soften the vegetables over a low heat without colouring them.
- When the vegetables are soft, stir in the spices.
- Carefully add the hot, roasted pumpkin to the soup pan (no need to remove the skin).
- Add and the chicken stock and bring to the boil
- Peel and dice the potato and add it to the soup
- Lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.
- Blend the soup with a stick blender and pass through a sieve.
- Add a little water or chicken stock if the soup is a little thick
- Adjust the spices and add salt as necessary
- Serve with a swirl of cream and a few toasted seeds.