The Lemon Fool

I'm guessing that a lot of people will still be trying to use up pumpkin or being tempted to buy more pumpkin by all the interesting shapes and sizes and types now available in the shops. I've tried various pumpkin soup recipes over the years but always found the results very unexciting but this year I tried this one from The Small Planet Vegetarian Cookbook by Troth Wells and it's really delicious. N.B. I never seem to have all the ingredients for a recipe so I've indicated my substitutions.

Pumpkin Soup

450g Diced Pumpkin or Butternut Squash Flesh
1 onion sliced
2 cloves garlic squashed and chopped
1/2 to 1 fresh chilli de-seeded and chopped finely (I didn't have any fresh and just used chilli powder to taste)
1 bayleaf
480ml tomato juice (I just used a can of chopped tomatoes)
200ml stock
a little milk (optional - I didn't need it)
1 tablespoon margarine (I don't believe in margarine so I used half butter and half rapeseed oil)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)
salt and pepper

Tip for amateur cooks: Peeling, de-seeding and then chopping pumpkin flesh is a nightmare, especially the peeling bit, it's better to prick your whole small pumpkin or half or quarter a larger pumpkin and prick the secions well and then soften it up a bit in the microwave and leave to cool. The flesh can then easily be scraped from the skin and chopped.

Soften the onion in the fat/oil until golden. Add garlic, chilli, bayleaf and pumpkin and stir well.
Add stock and tomato juice or can of tomatoes, bring to boil and then simmer, stirring from time to time, for about 20 minutes until pumpkin is soft.
Allow to cool a little, remove bayleaf, and blend adding the milk if you prefer a thinner texture.
Season and heat through before serving with chopped parsley on top if desired.

Perfect for the chilly days we now seem to be having!

midnightcatprowl wrote:1 tablespoon margarine (I don't believe in margarine so I used half butter and half rapeseed oil)

It does exist, but I agree with your substitution

Sounds quite close to pumpkin soup as I make it. Creamed, of course.

Couple of things:
- The big pumpkins can make a good soup, but smaller squashes have better flavours. A butternut is a safe option.
- Yes, a squash is a nightmare to chop and peel. But give it half an hour in the bottom of the oven (while cooking something else in the centre) and it's much easier.
- You can make it protein-rich by adding a carton of tofu. Since it's being creamed, the tofu disappears, and takes on the flavour of the squash and spices.
- You say one onion. I would make that one giant spanish onion. Or if using regular-sized onions, make it more than one. And a clove or two of garlic.
- Experiment with variants on the herbs and spices. For example, I had dill that needed using up, and it worked beautifully as a supplement to this basic recipe!

I made a similar one the other day, with ground coriander, nutmeg and ginger in place of the chili. I also put some red lentils in for protein, but didn't use tomato juice.

Coincidentally, I also had some dill to snip over the top.

Pressure cooker and stick blender make soups so quick and easy.

splosh

I can definitely second the addition of sliced or grated fresh ginger root to this soup.

John

As an additional refinement (and in the spirit of not wasting anything), if you scoop out the seeds - don't throw them away - I roast them slowly to dry them out and brown and then grind (use a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle) into a fine powder - I use this as a 'sprinkle' on top of the pumpkin soup or add it when roasting pumpkins - has a lovely flavour

S

Just brewed up a cauldron of this. Fed me just now, will feed the shiny new freezer tomorrow.

Alas, I can't remember the name of the squash I used. Looked like a slightly fatter/rounder butternut squash, and bore a Sainsburys "finest" label. Flesh a rich orange colour, somewhat darker than a butternut but not quite a big pumpkin. Taste delicious, with a bit of pasta, and sour cream on top, and a small glass of Islay single malt.

Some great ideas here. My favourite is to add an apple, garam masala and creamed coconut.