Pumpkin Soup

The festive season makes me want to pull out all my ‘comfort food’ favourites, and apart from dessert, nothing screams comfort more than a hot bowl of soup.  I have many recipes that I love but one that I love is pumpkin soup. The success in this lies in the quality of your pumpkin, obviously if your pumpkin has no flavour, then your soup isn’t going to be that exciting.  I sometimes find it hard to find full flavoured pumpkins in Italy like the ones I grew up with in Australia, so I often tweak my pumpkin soup to add more flavour.  I sometimes add carrots and sweet potato.  This time I used leeks, and a good  homemade chicken broth as the base. There are few ingredients though, and it really is so easy to make.  I never weigh anything when I make it, so it’s all guesstimated. I also make a huge saucepan…. because I like to freeze it for those days when I can’t be bothered cooking anything.

Pumpkin Soup

• 2 leeks, washed & chopped
• olive oil
• homemade chicken broth
• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1kg pumpkin (circa), butternut or muscat
• 1.5 litres chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 teaspoons curry powder to taste (optional)
• sour cream
• parmesan cheese
• parsley

1. Wash and chop leeks, and add to a large saucepan with olive oil. Start to cook gently while you peel and chop the sweet potato and pumpkin.
2. Add sweet potato and pumpkin to saucepan and cover with broth.  Ensure that the broth covers all vegetables.
3. Bring to the boil, lower heat to a slow boil, and allow to cook until the vegetables are soft. (about 30min).
4. Meanwhile, place grated parmesan cheese on oven paper on a baking tray.  Have oven at 200°C.  You can drop cheese in rounds, or place it in a square and break it afterwards. Watch oven carefully because they melt quickly.  When cheese has melted and starts to bubble, remove from oven and allow to cool before using.
5. Blend soup until smooth and velvety. Add the curry powder if desired to taste, and stir well.
6. Serve with a dollop of sour cream, parmesan chips and chopped parsley.  I also like an extra sprinkling of pecorino cheese and freshly ground black pepper on top.