Pumpkin Revisited

Think of this blog update as an appendix to the last. With a bit of pumpkin puree leftover I decided to make some soup.

It's a really straight forward thing to do - much easier than the pie!

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I wasn't precise with my measurements - I just went by taste and what I thought it should come out like. But I'll guesstimate what I used...

You will need:

- 2 cups of pumpkin puree
- 250ml double cream
- 200ml vegetable stock
- A generous cracking of black pepper
- Plenty of salt
- 1tsp ground coriander
- 1/2tsp chilli powder
- 1 red onion
- 2 slices bread (for croutons - stale is fine)

Start by heating up some oil in a heavy based pan and browning the onion. The onion can be diced or chopped however you like really - the soup will be put in a liquidiser at the end, so whatever.

While the onions are browning, stick the pumpkin puree into another pot and put the heat on it.

Once the onions have browned, transfer them into the pot with the pumpkin puree. Add a little more oil to the pan that the onions browned in before slicing your bread into squares.

Once the pan has come back up to temperature and the fresh oil is heated, throw in the bread and fry it on both sides. Using the onion pan just means that the bread takes on a bit more flavour.

While the bread fries, add the cream, stock and various spices and seasonings to the soup pot. Give it all a good stir round. If it seems a little thin, you can always add a little cornflour to the soup to thicken it up. Remember that the onions are going to be blended into the soup later as well though, and this will give a little extra texture.

Take the croutons off of the heat when they're ready and place them onto some kitchen roll to absorb any excess oil.

Allow the soup to almost come to the boil, stirring regularly, before taking it off the heat. Pour the whole lot into a food blender and pulse it all round until the onions are well integrated into the soup, and the texture is like a very thick cream.

Simply pour this into some bowls and serve with the croutons placed on top. It has a fair kick, and is absolutely delicious.

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I have plenty left over from today, so there'll be a wee bit in work if anyone wants to try it. Though it will also be serving as my lunch, so take it easy.

Coming up:

- See last blog!