As promised, all manner of pumpkin-related treats from yesterday.
The morning saw me run out, on impulse, to buy a pumpkin to make some soup; A and I had the afternoon to ourselves, as F was being collected from school by Victoria's mummy, before their modern dance lesson. A usually likes to muck in in the kitchen, and I knew she'd enjoy being my assistant for a spot of flesh gouging (the pumpkin, not ours!!) Shock horror, our local farm shop was all out of pumpkins, so I was forced to drive about 3 miles to the next nearest farm shop, where there were not only some beautiful pumpkin specimens, but also some too-tempting squash, so I bought a couple of small pumpkins, and squash of the butternut, ambernut and spaghetti varieties, as seen above.
I prefer to roast my pumpkin for soup, rather than chopping it up and boiling it. You get less wastage with roasting, because the flesh just slides away from the skin, it's so soft, and I also firmly believe that it's much tastier to roast, than to boil all the flavour out of it. Just a personal preference, though. Anyway, I cut both pumpkins in half, scooped out the seeds and stringy bits, and then put the halves face down, i.e. cut side down on a baking tray lined with foil doused with olive oil. Roasted on a moderate heat for 45 minutes until it was lovely and squashy, and then just left it, skin still on, until the afternoon when A and I were ready to continue.
When we got home from school, it was straight into the kitchen to get our hands dirty!! This is the fun part! We had to scoop the soft roasted flesh away from the skin, using spoons, hands - whatever!
It was a messy, but satisfying job:
The flesh then went into the blender, along with a couple of potatoes which had been peeled, diced and gently boiled until soft in some vegetable stock with a pinch of saffron and a crushed clove of garlic. It was all whizzed together, returned to a big pot on the stove for a generous slosh of single cream, and then brought to the boil (but only just) to warm it through. Put into bowls with a swirl of cream and a twist of salt and pepper to finish it off, and it was absolutely deeee-licious!!!
And finally, from yesterday, our ever-so-scary window decoration which failed to deter the trick-or-treaters!! Carved by the girls, with grandad, on Sunday:
4 comments:
Soup looks scrummy, and your so flipping talented, I love your pumkin carving.
Oh Yum ... the soup sounds divine darl'.... and the pumpkin hands look particularly halloweenish. And I see you've got buttternut squash, my fave veg and makes a delicious soup too.
You almost sold me the idea of the soup but the smell of the raw pumpkin makes me shudder. Could try it with a peg on me nose.
Lovely pumpkin carving chickie xxx
I am going to try that recipe, it sounds lovely - now Hallowe'ens over I might be able to find a cheap pumpkin too!
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