Now this comes with a warning - if you're after a fancy recipe with prepared with all the finesse of a French chef, you have Come To The Wrong Place. My crushed ginger comes from a tube, and my chicken stock comes in small cubes from the cupboard. But heck, if my soup tastes this delicious with basic ingredients, I can only imagine how amazing it would be with the fresh stuff! Lets get to it.
Pumpkin Soup
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| Image from here |
Ingredients:
50g butter
2 onions, diced
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
Salt and pepper
1.25kg pumpkin, peeled and chunked.
1/2 litre chicken stock
Method:
1) In a large, heavy based saucepan, melt the butter over low heat and stir in the onions until they have softened. Add the ginger and salt and pepper, and give it a good stir.
2) Add the stock, bring it to the boil, then add the pumpkin. I usually cut my pumpkin up into thin slices, so it cooks quickly, but if you've got all the time in the world I guess you could just chuck it in whole. You might even have soup by Christmas!
3) Simmer gently until the pumpkin is very soft, then puree the lot.
4) This serves up beautifully with a dollop of cream or natural yoghurt, and a sprinkle of coriander, but is just fine without. It freezes well!
So, dear readers, what winter warmers do you like? Share, and we'll all get fat and warm together!
I've been MIA for a bit there but I'm slowly catching up with everyone. I love cooking soup too - or stews, curries, roasts...anything that cooks for a while and warms the house too!
ReplyDeleteWe missed you! Good to have you back :)
DeleteThe moment I come up with a usuable translation for "souskluitjies", I'll share that - talking about getting fat and warm!
ReplyDeleteYour soup looks nice - I know the butternut version, but must try out pumpkin.
Oh, I googled, they look amazing!! Share away!
DeleteIm already fat, but Im up for warm, cos its very cold here at the moment, .......another good one is little meat balls, (tiny) in chicken broth and noodles....with some nice crusty bread...mmmm Im gonna make these on the weekend...oh, and nice medium meat balls in a thick tomato pasta sauce with spaghetti,....with some nice crusty bread....oh and nice BIG meat balls with........dunno, never made big ones...
ReplyDeleteWe like big meat balls on their own! Bug likes hers for afternoon tea, like a big protein bomb, she eats it out if the palm of her hand... And the dogs eat the rest of the explosion off the floor :)
DeleteI haven't made them for a while, though, I'll have to get on that!
I love how a pumpkin soup recipe is universal! I do mine the same way - usually it's all just chucked in and left to boil away. I never thought of adding ginger though - brilliant! Will definitely try this come winter.. although they tend to use pumpkin out of a can here and carve the real things.. crazy, I know. I have a great recipe for carrot and ginger soup too .. mmm. Slow cooker beef burgundy pot pies are a fave here - I usually cook the mix overnight which is always a disaster when I wake up at 3am positively staaaarving from the aromas! :)
ReplyDeleteCooking over night is a great idea. I have the other problem - when I cook during the day, I get so damn sick of the smell that by dinner time I've usually lost my appetite!
DeleteDon't stick in tooooo much ginger, it can get too zingy very quickly. But just a bit adds a real depth of flavour.
Everyone in the southern hemisphere seems to be on a pumpkin soup kick! How I yearn for a good old hard-as-nails-skin Queensland Blue, instead of the abominable things they call pumpkin in the UK. Butternut squash is only just about all right, but proper pumpkin it is NOT.Next you'll be making pumpkin scones, hot out of the oven with lashings of butter...
ReplyDeleteHard as nails pumpkin is right - there is always that moment where you've had at it with a knife, to very little effect, and you wonder if you should just go and get the axe...
DeleteNow I'm hungry...And it's only 10.30am!
ReplyDelete~S.
Any recipe requiring a slow cooker is an awesome winter one.
ReplyDeleteI <3 beef and red wine casseroles and pies. Sometimes the leftover casserole makes awesome pie filling :D
Mashed spud... Winter calls for ample supply of mashed spud
Baking cakes and muffins is one of my fave things to do in winter as well.
Nom Nom
I just discovered pumpkin soup made with roasted pumpkin - just put the onion and pumpkin in to bake for half an hour or whatever in a hot oven, then add the other ingredients and blitz - extra yummy. I often bake extra while I have the oven on and a shelf spare.
ReplyDeleteI've got a variant on a friend's recipe for pumpkin soup Mrs A - but it's a tad spicier than most kids would be able to handle ;)
ReplyDeletePumpkin, 2 x leeks, garlic, chilli, ginger and cumin.
Beyond that, casseroles (ta for the reminder LadySarahJane - have to dig out the red wine/lamb/rosemary one soon!), pies (mmm pies) plus the odd spit ;)