Halloween Pumpkin soup!

I love Pumpkins! The spooky lanterns they become when you carve them out, and the yummy-tummy soup they make for an Autumn tea!

We grow our own pumpkins each year – sometimes they thrive and sometimes sadly not! This year ours didn’t quite make it so this year our Halloween soup is made from shop-bought pumpkins.

For Halloween Pumpkin You’ll need…

4 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1kg pumpkin peeled, deseeded and chopped into chunks
700ml vegetable stock or chicken stock
142ml pot double cream
4 slices wholemeal seeded bread
handful of dried pumpkin seeds

To make…

Heat half the olive oil in a large saucepan, then gently cook the onions for 5 mins, until soft but not coloured.

Add the pumpkin or squash to the pan, then carry on cooking for 8-10 mins, stirring occasionally until it starts to soften and turn golden.

Pour the stock into the pan, then season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 mins until the squash is very soft.

Pour the cream into the pan, bring back to the boil, then purée with a hand blender.

For an extra-velvety consistency you can now push the soup through a fine sieve into another pan.

While the soup is cooking, slice the crusts from the bread, then cut the bread into small croutons.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan, then fry the bread until it starts to become crisp.

Add the seeds to the pan, then cook for a few mins more until they are toasted. These can be made a day ahead and stored in an airtight container.

Reheat the soup if needed, taste for seasoning, then serve scattered with croutons and seeds and drizzled with more olive oil, if you want.

This delicious soup can be frozen for up to 2 months.