Pumpkin and Carrot Soup - The Monday Recipe

Thick pumpkin soup with a dollop of creme fraiche

Pumpkin soup is a perfect winter soup as it is thick and satisfying.  This year I grew my own pumpkins, with a little help, and they make excellent pies, cakes and soups and are even delicious as a vegetable to accompany meats. Just use them like squash, mashing a little butter into the flesh and adding salt and pepper.

Numerous recipes say to peel and chop the pumpkin.  I think this is a waste of time and energy as pumpkins are very tough.  I get hubby to quarter them with a Ken Hom type chopper, similar to a small hatchet.  Then I put them in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 F/ !80 C.  After that, it is easy to scoop the flesh out of the shell and use it for any recipe you want. For this recipe, you can substitute squash (butternut/acorn or Kabocha). Butternut squash will give a sweeter flavour, but this is very nice too.  You will find squashes in supermarkets most of the year.  Pumpkins can be found in Asian shops all year round too.

Home grown pumpkins

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked pumpkin
3 carrots
1 onion
water
stock cube
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and papper

Method:
Cut the pumpkins in quarters, remove some of the seeds and bake them in the oven at 180 C (350 F) for 45 minutes.
At the same time, you can bake the carrots and onion in a little olive oil.
Remove the pumpkins from the oven, take out the seeds and scoop out the flesh.
Put the vegetables in a saucepan and cover them with water.
Add the stock cube and seasoning.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Allow to cool a little and use use a blender or mouli to puree the soup.
Reheat and serve with a spoonful of creme fraiche on top of each serving.

You will see at the side various stages in preparation.  Every time I add a caption, the photos move to the top of the blog, so I have given up.  They are: quartered pumpkins, vegetables cut and oven ready, pumpkins in the oven, cooked pumpkins.

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