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Pumpkin Season: Creamy Pumpkin Soup.


- Serves 4 to 6 - Ready in 2.5 hours - (this includes 1.5 hours of oven time) -


* Uses up 1 small (2kg when whole) pumpkin *


Gather together...

1 small pumpkin (circa 2kg weight pre-cutting and seed-removal) OR use approximately 1.5kg of skin-less pumpkin flesh (a mixture of chunks and stringy bits is fine) hacked from a carved pumpkin OR use 2x small Butternut Squash.

2 tbsp olive / rapeseed oil.

4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped (or use 4 tsp of 'lazy garlic' in a jar) OR just use garlic-infused oil instead of olive oil (rather than using garlic itself) if LOW FODMAP diet is required.

1 large baking potato (this adds a magic thickness to the texture, don't leave it out!)

2 tbsp olive / rapeseed oil.

1/4 tsp salt.

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon.

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice.

A pinch of ground pepper.

1 tin (400ml) of full-fat coconut milk.

1 litre boiling water.

2 Knorr vegetable stock pot jellies or 2 tsp gravy granules.


Serve with...

Thick slices of bread, fresh from the baker or fresh from a breadmaker.


Get cooking...

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C (150 C fan) or Gas 3.

2. Using a big, sharp knife, carefully cut the skin off the pumpkin. Slice the ‘naked’ pumpkin in half, then half again and then each piece in half again – giving you 8 large wedges of pumpkin. Remove the seeds (using your hands to do this is the easiest way), you don’t need to remove the straggly strands of flesh. Set aside the seeds as they could be made into a tasty snack - see the 'Roasted Pumpkin Seeds' seasonal recipe blog post if you are interested in doing this. If you are using bits and pieces and stringy stuff hacked from inside a carved pumpkin, then you won't need to do much extra cutting up before roasting.

3. Put the pumpkin chunks into a large deep sided roasting tin (or put them onto a large baking tray).

4. Roughly peel and cut up the 4 cloves of garlic, add them to the pumpkin.

5. Drizzle the pumpkin innards with the 2 tbsp of oil, stir well to coat the vegetable chunks in oil. If you are using randomly sized bits of pumpkin flesh from a carved pumpkin, make sure the smallest pieces are towards the middle of the tray, with the largest around the edge. Then roast in the oven, on a tray, for 90 minutes. Give a good stir after every 30 minutes - again keep the smaller chunks in the middle of the tray (so they are less likely to over-brown).

7. Meanwhile, prick with a fork and microwave the large baking potato (in its skin) for 10 minutes. Then set aside to cool enough to handle (it will be used later in the recipe).

6. Turn off the oven and remove the roasted pumpkin/garlic mixture from the oven once it has been in there for 90 minutes, and let it cool slightly before you transfer it into a casserole dish e.g. a Le Creuset-style 5 litre lidded cast iron pan, set it on the hob and turn the heat on LOW.

7. Boil 3/4 of a kettle of water (for the stock).

8. To the casserole dish on LOW, add 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice and a pinch of ground pepper. Stir well.

9. Scoop out the cooked potato flesh, and add it to the casserole dish. Stir. Discard the potato skin.

10. Add the 400g tin of coconut milk and stir.

11. Put the 1 litre of boiling water into a jug and carefully dissolve in the two Knorr vegetable stock pot jellies (OR the 2 tsp gravy granules), add this liquid to the casserole dish and stir gently but well.

12. Leave the pan to reach a simmer slowly, on the LOW heat (so the flavours have time to merge) - simmer gently like this for at least 15 minutes. N.B. You can leave it like this (uncovered, on the hob on LOW) for up to 1 hour, if needed.

13. When you are ready to use the soup, turn off the hob and allow it to cool slightly for 5 minutes (so the liquid isn't bubbling up at you!).

14. Use a stick blender to blitz the soup until smooth - this will take about 1 minute of thorough blending.

15. Serve with thick slices of bread (or use triangles of brown toast to create a pumpkin face floating on your bowl of soup!).

Adapted from this recipe by Cookie + Kate.

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