The seasons are changing and there’s just a hint of a chill in the air. Soup weather…
In my parents’ house, Sunday nights in winter meant soup and crusty bread, and it’s still something that I crave in the cooler months.
This soup uses the delicious, but hard to cut, Queensland blue pumpkin. If you can’t get that variety, then Jap or butternut also work well. While you can make this by simmering the pumpkin and potato chunks in the stock to cook them, I prefer to roast them first to bring out the sweetness.
Ingredients
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
1 onion, finely chopped
2–3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
750 g pumpkin, cut into chunks
250g potato, cut into chunks
1.25 L (5 cups) chicken stock
250 ml (1 cup) cream
Method
Roast the chunks of pumpkin and potato until slightly softened (approximately 40 minutes in a moderate oven).
Gently sauté the onion and garlic in the oil and butter until soft and transparent, but do not allow to colour. Add the pumpkin and potato and stir to coat the outsides.
Add stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the liquid has reduced and the vegetables are really soft.
Using a stick blender or food processor, blend the vegetables and cooking liquid until completely smooth. Add the cream, mix through and heat gently until heated through.
Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with lightly toasted crusty bread.
This also freezes well and it was only last weekend that I made a big batch and froze it in individual portions. Now we can have soup whenever we feel like it.