Pumpkin Soup Recipe

First thing you need to do is peel and chop the red onions, carrots, garlic and the celery.

Then, deseed and finely chop the chilli. Like only a master will do.  Carefully halve the pumpkin lengthways, scoop out the seeds with a spoon and cut it into chunks. You don’t need to peel the pumpkin, it’s just fine this way as the peel is smooth enough to blend with the soup. After that,  line a small bowl with absorbent paper, that’s for your sage leaves.

Put a very large saucepan on a medium heat and add a couple of lugs of olive oil.  Add the sage leaves and fry for around 30 seconds, or until everything is dark green and crisp…yamm. Quickly remove them with a slotted spoon and move them in the bowl lined with absorbent paper. You’ll use these for sprinkling over at the end for a brilliant garnishing.

Next, put the pan back on the heat and add the onion, carrot, garlic, celery, rosemary leaves, chilli and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook gently for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are sweet and soft  Add the pumpkin and the stock to the pan and bring everything to boiling point, then reduce the heat and simmer for around 30 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, make your croutons. Cut your ciabatta (it’s an italian bread, but you could use something else) into 1cm thick slices. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the ciabatta slices and pat it in.

Finely, grate a layer of Parmesan over each slice and press it onto the bread.  Place in a non-stick pan without any oil and fry on a medium heat until it gets golden on both sides.  These are delicious and will go with just about any soup you want to make, espeacilly with the creamy ones.

When the pumpkin is soft and cooked through, whiz the soup with a stick blender or pour it into a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth purée (but you can leave it slightly chunky if you like). Have a taste and season with salt and pepper until it’s perfect.

Divide the soup between your bowls, placing croutons on top of each. If you don’t like the whole slice diving in your bowl, then you can cut your slices of bread in cubes before you put them in a pan.

Bon Appétit