Recipe serves about 8 adults or 6 starving kids
Pumpkins take over the autumn garden by showcasing their wonky shapes and mottled gold appearance. Crown prince and butternuts are our favorites and so easy to grow! In season from October to December can be enjoyed at their best.
This simple, no fuss recipe is an absolute winner. It goes down a treat after a morning gardening in cold weather or after a hearty walk with the dog. At GrowHay we share ours sitting outside together with a steaming mug and a torn chunk of bread…lovely.
The soup keeps well in the fridge for 3 days. Made in advance takes the stress out of cooking. You can make our recipe yours by adding seeds, leftover meats or fish for a heartier meal. You can use vegetable stock and easily omit the butter and milk for rapeseed oil and soya or coconut milk for coeliacs.
Ingredients:
- 1.4kg peeled pumpkins with seeds, skin removed, cut into 8 then thinly sliced
- 50g unsalted butter
- 400ml chicken stock or 2 chicken stock cubes made to 400ml
- 150ml milk
- 1 clove crushed garlic
- Seasoning
Method
- Melt the butter on a medium heat add the crushed garlic and cook for a minute. Add the pumpkin and season with salt.
- Add the chicken stock & milk and gently simmer. Stir from time to time to stop burning. The pumpkin will slowly cook and break up whilst the stock will evaporate by a good half.
- Once the pumpkin is broken down in the pot, strain the liquid from the pulp (keep liquid and put to one side).
- In a food processor or blender puree the pulp then slowly add the liquid until you have a velvet soup consistency. Taste for seasoning.
Tips
You can dry seeds in the oven at 170°C for 15 minutes for a crispy topping
We like to add a little Asian twist so we pop 2 inches of lemon grass, 2 lime leaves and half a split de-seeded red chilli right at the beginning. Finish with chopped coriander and a glug of coconut milk. For something a little special serve as a starter with wok seared scallops, prawns or crispy squid.
