How to Make Pumpkin Soup

Nothing heralds the start of autumn louder than pumpkin soup. It wasn’t until I moved to Australia that I ever really ate or cooked a pumpkin. In the UK the pumpkin was, at least for me, something you carved into a scary face for Halloween.

But in Australia, the pumpkin is revered. There I discovered different varieties, such as the Queensland Blue and the Jap, and I learnt that roasting big cubes of it went very well with a roast dinner.

But a bowl of hot pumpkin soup is a real autumn treat and really easy to make, so this is by far my most cooked pumpkin dish. It can also use up large quantities of pumpkin.

I can’t say I have ever used a particular recipe or used the same ingredients or quantities more than once, but this is the baseline recipe I have in my head, which I vary depending what’s on hand.

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Pumpkin Soup

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A hearty seasonal soup to keep you warm during the autumn months!

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions (finely chopped)
• 2 sticks of celery (finely chopped)
• 2 carrots (peeled and finely chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
• 1 kg pumpkin (peeled, deseeded and chopped roughly into 2cm dice)
• 1 litre of chicken stock (or enough to cover the pumpkin in the pot)
• 400 ml coconut milk or double cream
• 1 small bunch parsley (chopped)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions 

• Bring the chicken stock to a simmer.
• Heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the onions, celery and carrots for about 10 – 12 minutes until soft.
• Add the garlic and stir for a minute then add the pumpkin and stir thoroughly so that the pumpkin is covered with the onion mixture.
• Add enough stock to cover the pumpkin in the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or until the pumpkin can be crushed easily with a fork.
• Blend the soup with a stick blender.
• Add the coconut milk or double cream, and the parsley and simmer gently for 5 minutes, then serve with some crusty bread.

Notes

1. Use the microwave to heat the chicken stock in Step 1.
2. If you prefer a runnier consistency, add more chicken stock after you have added the coconut cream/double cream in Step 6.
3. Use vegetable stock to make this vegan/vegetarian.
4. Make a double batch and store in the freezer to enjoy later.