- Prepare the vegetable stock before hand or buy it (not the powdered stuff, rather the semi-real liquid stuff) For stock: take old-ish vege’s that you want to be rid of but that are not rotting, or use fresh lovely ones, makes little difference, or offcuts (like the tops of celery) and gently boil them with pepper, coriander seeds, bay leaf, fennel seeds – actually with whatever really. Some spice lends itself better to stock. Stock is a base so don’t choose extravagant spices for stock and don’t choose spices that go bitter with long slow cooking. Stock needs to cook long and slow. Strain through a colander and put the liquid in the fridge. If you make the stock too quickly you will overwhelm the star ingredient – in this case butternut – with other vegetable flavours like celery. Stock may not work with veg like beetroot – never tried it though it could be Fab!
- Slow fry, on a low heat, 1x finely chopped onion until glossy and transluscent, then add 4x finely chopped garlic gloves, chopped green chilli (depending on your taste and the variety of chilli; I use 2-3) and a couple of good lumps of finely grated ginger. Gently fry until it smells nice.
- The add some (no more than 1Tbsp) mixed Italian spice (oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary) and a couple of Bay leaves, fry gently til it smells lovely. Optional: add 1tsp cinnamon (never too much cinnamon) and 1tsp nutmeg. Some people prefer just the Italian herbs, I like them both.
- Then add 1x large raw chopped (small pcs) butternut and gently fry for about 10mins – don’t let it burn though. Use a low heat. When it starts to dry up add some stock and let the stock cook the pumpkin. Keep adding the stock in stages until the pumpkin is soft. Don’t drown raw pumpkin in stock/liquid. If you add too much stock you will have a runny soup. If you like the soup thick use less stock or add more pumpkin if it gets too runny.
- Gently simmer away for 20mins or more. Add some pepper and salt toward the end of the simmer stage Optional: add an anchovy at this stage.
- Simmer for another 10mins to allow everything to come to together.
- If after the slow simmering, it is still too runny and you have no extra butternut, add 1tsp of very fine cornflour and mix with a little bit of water to make a paste. Add the glu-ey paste to the soup and mix rhythmically – don’t walk away until the cornflower water has thickened the soup. If you walk away too soon, you will get lumps. The cornflour is a save and you don’t really want to use it unless you have to.
- Whizz it all up and taste – season as you need to.
- Cook it a little longer after whizzing then taste again
Quantities
Everything is relative so if you are using a HUGE pumpkin, or multiple pumpkins, just increase the qty of everything else.
Oils for frying
Use olive oil for this because you aren’t using a high heat. When frying with higher heat don’t bother with olive oil – waste of money – use something like coconut or rice bran oil rather.
Stock
You don’t need stock to make this soup. You can add flavour with anchovy (max ONE or if they are very small two) or Marmite.
Butternut vs Pumpkin
Butternut is sweeter and has more flavour. Pumpkin is more watery in taste. So if you are using pumpkin you will need to add more flavour in the way of stevia/sugar, salt, anchovy, spice etc
Things to put on top of this mammoth soup
- Squeezed Lemon Juice
- Crumbled Feta
- Fresh Coriander/Dhania
- Grated Parmesan
- Sprinkled Smoked Paprika
- Sour Cream