Pumpkin Soup on a Wet, Windy Wednesday

We are creeping into the depths of a very wet and miserable winter here in Auckland, and I can't think of anything I would rather eat then a delicious bowl of pumpkin soup. I like my pumpkin soup simple in flavour and velvety smooth in texture. I will make pumpkin soup with any type of pumpkin, whichever is going cheapest at the supermarket, although this recipe does work very nicely with a butternut squash.

I attempted to grow butternut squash this year, and I initially got a wonderful flurry of perfect pear shaped fruit on my vine, to my horror I only have one resilient little butternut squash that survived. But no time for mopping, I have taken this blessed offering and created a batch of soup for the freezer, all is not lost.

As part of my blog I am going to include some basic nutritional information on each recipe, hopefully this will be a useful tool when it comes to deciding how well behaved or rebellious you are feeling! All values are approximate, and are to be used as a guide.

For the soup you will need....

• 800g Pumpkin (Butternut Squash is ideal but not essential, sweet potato or kumara is also pretty good)
• Olive Oil to drizzle
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 2 Garlic Cloves, chopped
• 50g Butter
• 1 Lt Chicken or Vegetable Stock
• 250ml Cream (milk works well also, if you are keen to make it a leaner dish)

To Serve...

• 200g Parmesan Cheese
• Parsley

Peel and cut the squash into cubes, spread in a roasting dish and drizzle with olive oil, roast at 180C for 20 minutes.

While the pumpkin is roasting, in a large saucepan gently soften the onions and garlic with the butter. Take care to use a low heat and avoid any browning.

Once the squash has roasted for 20 minutes, add it to the saucepan along with the stock, bring to the boil Add the cream or milk and simmer for 20 minutes at a low heat.

Once the pumpkin is perfectly tender, process in a blender until glossy and smooth.

Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and some chopped parsley if you would like a splash of colour. Season as desired, with salt and pepper. With or without hot toast this is truly a scrumptious soup, so please enjoy!

Nutritional Information:

Butternut Squash offer a great source of Vit A, Vit C, and Potassium. They are also a source of Niacin, Vit B6, Thiamin and Vit E, who needs energy drinks!

Per 100g this recipe has the following approx nutritional content:

Energy 473kj

Protein 10.1g

Fat 11.8g (This would be more like 9.0g for full fat milk or 8.3g for skim milk, and it is still really good!)

Sat Fat 6.0g

Carbohydrate 13.6g

Sugar 3.9

Sodium 278mg