Sirrob01

Not many updates over the last month, Annette has been very unwell pretty much restricted to a bed only and in a fair amount of pain, so I’ve been focused on looking after her and going to work. I have had time to refine my pumpkin and sweet potato soup recipe  which I’ll use a fair bit over winter. It’s a very healthy soup with very little fat content and should be okay for vegetarians as well.

Ingredients (makes about 3-4 litres)

2 Butternut Pumpkins

2-4 Sweet Potatoes (500g)

4 Onions (400-450g)

8-10 Carrots (700g peeled)

2 Fresh Chillies

2-3 Garlic Cloves

4 Tablespoons Carraway Seed

4 tablespoons Cumin Seed

8 Teaspoons Vegetable Stock

6-8 Cups of water

2.5 Cups of Skim Milk

1. Preheat Oven to 200C.
2. Cut the top and bottoms of the Pumpkin then cut them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Lightly grease a baking tray and place the pumpkin halves on the tray skin side up. Place into Oven and bake for 45-60 mins.
3. While the pumpkin is roasting peel the onions, carrot and sweet potato and roughly cut them into chunks.
4. Cut the chills up a little finer
5. Place 6 cups of water in a large stock/soup pot
6. Add the Garlic, Carraway, Cumin, Chilli and Veg stock to the water
7. Place the cut Onion, Carrot and Sweet Potato into the water and bring to the boil.
8. Boil for 45 to 60 mins top up with water as required to keep the volume about the same and stir to ensure it dosen’t burn.
9. Once pumpkin is roasted (skin will be brown in places). Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a short time (15-20mins) then remove the skin from the pumpkin it should peel away reasonably easily (throw the skin away).
10. Once the Vege’s  are cooked add the pumpkin to the pot and squash/mix it in with the Vege’s, you may need to lower the heat a little to prevent the mix from burning.
11. After 5-10mins add 2 cups of milk to the pot and mix through, leave to simmer for a further 10mins.
12. Run the whole mix through a blender or food processor, you should end up with a smooth consistency and the seeds will break up but wont dissolve completely.
13. Use 1/2 a cup of milk to clean the blender/food processor and add this to the pot.
14. Leave to simmer for 15mins stirring to ensure it dosen’t burn.
15. Serve into bowls and top with fresh cracked pepper and/or a dolp of low fat cream or plain yoghurt in the  middle of the bowl.

The above soup can be frozen but it will seperate a little when thawed but as you heat it back up stir to combine it back together. The above makes a fairly mild soup with only a hint of spice for a spicer soup add more chilli’s. If you make it I hope you enjoy it :).