Who doesn't love a nice warm bowl of home made pumpkin soup, right? Making the most of the seasonal veggie heroes right now - this week it’s the perfect pumpkin. Full of vitamin A and the anti oxidant beta-carotene, plenty of pumpkin is one easy way to keep even blood pressure and keep your eyes shiny and healthy. Dairy-free, vegetarian (opt) and gluten free, so ticking all the boxes.
INGREDIENTS:
Serves 4
1 onion (chopped)
6 cloves of garlic (3 chopped for the soup and 3 whole to roast the pumpkin with)
1 whole chopped pumpkin (butternut or any variety will do)
2 heaped tbspn coconut oil
2 tspn ground cumin
2 carrots (chopped)
2 sticks celery (chopped)
1.5 litres of stock (bone broth or veggie stock)
1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)
Salt, Pepper and chilli flakes as desired
METHOD:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees(fan or 200 for non-fan ovens) and put 1 tbspn of coconut oil in a deep roasting tin & let it melt in the oven. While that happens, prepare your pumpkin. Place in the tin with the 3 peeled garlic cloves, coat it in coconut oil and roast it for about 35-40 mins until it’s soft and slightly caramelised.
While that magic is happening, sautee the onions and garlic on a low heat in a large saucepan with the coconut oil for around 10 mins until they’re golden. Add the cumin, celery and carrots and sautee for another 5-10 mins until all soft. Then add the stock, cover with a lid and turn up the heat to a gentle simmer for around 20 mins. Then the pumpkin should be ready - so throw that in with the ‘cooking garlic’, stir well into the stock and leave that to cook for another 10 mins or so until it’s all cooked.
Then check for seasoning and add accordingly. Either tip the whole lot onto a large blender and blitz until smooth or use a hand blender in the saucepan. Add the coconut milk now if you want to and stir well. Then serve nice and hot with a little sprinkle of cumin and some toasted seeds, a feta sprinkle if you like and some yummy warmed bread. I challenge anyone not to appreciate all your Winter warming efforts!
Top Tip - double the recipe and batch freeze what you don’t eat in individual portions for a heathy ‘ready meal’ on a lazy night.