Pumpkin Soup the way of the future
Pumpkins! The legendary, magical vegetable capable of being transformed into a luxury carriage and whisking Cinderella to the ball, with a few taps of the magic wand! Yes, even old folk tales have alluded to the great promises a good pumpkin can hold. However it was not until recently I realised just how good they are!
Nutritional Facts!
Pumpkins are packed with nutritional goodness; they are rich in fibre, potassium, Vitamins B2, C & E, and are particularly rich in carotenoid pigments. These carotenoid pigments are thought to assist in preventing heart disease, cancer and age-related vision loss.
But back to my pumpkin adventure! If you haven’t been to your local green grocer recently, well then you have certainly been missing out! Japanese pumpkins are a very tidy $1.50 each! That’s right! I paid $1.50 for 4 kg of pumpkin goodness! Truly a bargain if there ever was one.
Tip! Good quality pumpkins should be heavy and hard. Avoid pumpkins which feel light for their size.
So filled with anticipation over the endless pumpkin possibilities I decided on the old humble pumpkin soup. It has always been there for me on those cold winter days, so I thought, why not give it a go, considering I had 4kg of pumpkin on me.
So the first thing to do is cut the pumpkin. I agree that this may seem like an ominous task to approach. I attempted to cut wedges from the start! Big mistake! While it is very easy to cut the pumpkin once you get the first wedge out, the trouble is cutting the first wedge out. So avoid the problems and frustration and instead cut a lid out of your pumpkin, like you would for a jack-o-lantern, and then, cut the pumpkin in half. After that you can cut as many wedges as you like!
Pumpkin processing!
Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients: (Serves 4)
1kg Japanese pumpkin, 1tbsp honey, 1 ½ cups of chicken (or vegetable) stock, salt and cracked pepper, and cream/sour cream to serve.
Steps: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Cut the pumpkin into thin wedges (less than 1 cm thick) with skin on. Place the pumpkin into a baking dish and bake for 40minutes or until soft and golden. Scrape the pumpkin from the skin and place in a blender in two lots, with half a cup of stock each time. Blend until smooth. Then place the blended pumpkin and remaining stock into a saucepan over low heat. Add the honey and a good dash of salt and pepper and stir through. Serve with a dash of cream/sour cream.
Ready to serve!
The result is a delicious sweet pumpkin soup, perfect alone or with a bread roll. After making your own pumpkin soup for less than 50 cents, you’ll never look at restaurant soup the same way again!
