I hadn’t heard of pumpkin soup until I came to this country. In the late 80’s, sometimes pumpkins were given free and even now, thirty years later they are still wallet friendly and have loads of goodness in them.
I didn’t have a clue how to cut a pumpkin and had an accident on my first effort. I still have a scar on my left thumb to remind me how not to do it. If you are pumpkin challenged and you are preparing for soup, stick the piece in the microwave for a couple of minutes to soften the skin. This way peeling is safer!
There are several variations of pumpkin soup and this is a simple one using 4 ingredients and some spices.
INGREDIENTS
1 – 1.2kg crown pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed and cut into 3-4cm chunks
200g onions, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, peeled
75g red lentils, rinsed (one third cup)
Freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper
OPTIONAL
25-30 sage leaves
30g butter
METHOD
Place the rinsed lentils, pumpkin, onions and garlic in a medium sized saucepan (2 litre capacity). Season with salt, pepper and generous gratings of nutmeg. Pour a litre of hot water from a freshly boiled kettle. Let the soup simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
Once vegetables are cooked sufficiently, blend using an immersion blitzer. Check and adjust seasoning as needed.
If you want burnt butter and sage topping, here is how to do.
Heat a small fry pan. Throw in the butter and allow to froth and when the frothing ceases, you can smell the butter at which point you can throw in the sage leaves. When they turn brown, you can remove from heat.
Once you serve the soup, spoon the sage leaves along with a bit of the burnt butter.
Serves 5-6.