A warming spiced pumpkin soup with a boat load of carrot. Nutty, savoury, sweet perfection.
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Equipment
- 1 Stick Mixer or Blender I prefer a blender for a perfectly smooth soup but a stick mix will do the job
Ingredients
- 800 grams pumpkin cut into 1cm cubes
- 500 grams carrot peeled and sliced into 1cm rounds
- 1 large potato peeled and diced into icm cubes
- 1 large brown onion roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 litre stock vegetable or chicken
- ½ cup milk or cream
- ¾ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- 50 grams butter
- 30 grams butter additional to the above
- 1 tsp olive oil
Bouquet Garni
- 5 sprigs parsley
- 5 sprigs oregano
- 5 sprigs thyme
Garnish and Serving
- parsley roughly chopped
- heavy cream
Instructions
- Over low heat add 50g of the butter, olive oil, onion and garlic to a large pot (preferable thick bottomed and with a lid). Turn heat to low and sweat the onion until translucent (approx. 5 minutes).1 large brown onion, 50 grams butter, 1 tsp olive oil, 4 cloves garlic
- Add pumpkin, carrot, potato, cumin, nutmeg, salt and pepper to the pot. Turn stove to medium heat and stir to coat the vegetables in oil and spices.800 grams pumpkin, 500 grams carrot, 1 large potato, ¾ tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp ground nutmeg, ½ tsp pepper, ½ tsp salt
- If you haven't already done so, tie the parsley, thyme and oregano into a bouquet with kitchen string. Place the bouquet garni on top of the vegetables in the pot.5 sprigs parsley, 5 sprigs thyme, 5 sprigs oregano
- Cover the pot with its lid, turn heat back to low and leave to softly fry for 20 minutes.
- Remove lid, add stock to the pot, return lid and let simmer for a further 45 minutes.1 litre stock
- At this point the vegetables should have softened. Test this but checking the tenderness of the carrots which are the slowest of the vegetables to cook.
- Turn the heat off and remove the bouquet garni from the soup.
- In batches, blend the soup into a smooth consistency. If using a stick mixer you can do this directly in the pot.
- When the required consistency is achieved return the soup to low heat. Add the milk and the remainder 30g of butter. Stirring until incorporated.½ cup milk, 30 grams butter
- Bring the soup to the brink of simmer before turning off the heat. Stir through the additional garnish parsley (or place on table with heavy cream for self selection) and serve.parsley, heavy cream
Notes
Although most pumpkin varieties make excellent soup, varieties with harder flesh will result in a less watery consistency. Queensland blue and butternut are both common varieties that are excellent soup pumpkins. I personally love using jarrahdale pumpkins which can be harder to find in stores but easy to grow at home.
As a dish, soup is versatile and very forgiving when experimenting with alternate flavours. Feel free to experiment with your favourite spices, just go slow and taste along the way.