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Smithson

We've got lots of pumpkins growing, so I'd be keen to hear some pumpkin soup recipes.

I'm told it's easy to make. Anyone got ideas? Microwave recipes are welcome.

beano

This is the most basic, I've copied it off the net because I'm lazy but there's a whole swag of variations if you just Google pumpkin soup.
INGREDIENTS

• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 5 whole black peppercorns

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat stock, salt, pumpkin, onion, thyme, garlic, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered.
2. Puree the soup in small batches (1 cup at a time) using a food processor or blender.
3. Return to pan, and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for another 30 minutes, uncovered. Stir in heavy cream. Pour into soup bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.

November Rain

Just made pumpkin soup today - this is so weird! Mine is a curried variety, but you can make it less spicy if you like.

1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 large clove garlic crushed
2 stalks celery chopped (I hate celery so I substitute fresh coriander, stalks & leaves, chopped)
2 tbspns oil
1 kilo pumpkin (weight before preparing), skinned & seeds & fibre removed, roughly chopped
1 tspn chilli powder (I use the Thai chilli powder with the seeds still in - this gives a bit of a kick. Use the Western variety - or less - for a milder version)
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn cinammon powder
1/2 (half) tspn ground black pepper
1 and a half pints or 900ml chicken stock (or boiling water with 2 chicken stock cubes dissolved in it)
2 oz butter (or about 2 cm cut off a pack)
salt to taste

Heat oil in large saucepan. Add celery (or coriander), garlic & onion. Cover & cook gently, stirring occasionally till soft.
Add spices (including pepper, but NOT salt) and stir for 1 minute
Add pumpkin & hot stock, bring to the boil
Simmer until pumpkin is soft (approx 20 mins - check pumpkin for tenderness)
Puree soup. A blender is good, but you can also mash it, or push it through a sieve.
Add butter and cook till melted. Add salt to taste.

__________________
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Jet Gorgon

Both sound yummy.
If you have a mike, that makes the pumpkin prep easier (really tough to peel the dam things). I used a machete to chop in quarters, scoop out seeds and stringy bits and bung in the mike til the pulp is soft. Cool a bit and scoop out for recipes. Pumpkin pies are grand, too!
You can freeze the plain cooked pumpkin for up to a year.

natalie8

I have a nice pumkin soup recipe that I just kind of made up, so I'm not sure about the measurements.

Pumpkin
Vegetable broth
Fresh ginger

Cut up the pumpkin into chunks. You can either boil them or microwave them with a bit of water in the dish. Once they're soft, either mash them with a potato masher or put them into the blender.

If you're using the blender, put a bit of the broth in with it and blend a bit at a time.

Shred / grind the ginger and put it into the pot with a bit of the broth to cook it. Pour in the pumpkin broth blend.

Adjust the ginger to taste. Yummy!

Smithson

Thanks, I'll start with the simplest and work my way up. Can the cream be replaced withmlik or yohgurt?

Lily

^yoghurt would be better. I also like to add just a pinch of curry powder to my pumpkin soup and lots of onions make it better.

I wouldn't add the yoghurt or cream until I was ready to serve it and just put a dollop in and swirl it on the surface. It gives it a richness that it doesn't have without it.