Cream of Pumpkin Soup recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Starters and Soups | 43 comments
This pumpkin has been languishing on the windowsill for the last week. Not waiting to be changed into a coach for one of our min pins but to be transformed into a vicious head to ward off the Halloween daemons. Halloween has become a vast industry in Britain. Party and toy shops bulge with decorations and the means to disguise the most innocent looking toddler into a vampire, witch or the sort of half eaten zombie that would not be welcome at your average convention of ghouls.
The children in the house where I’m working have already bought the basics for October 31st. Occasionally one creeps up behind me as I work and tickles my neck with a plastic scythe, the skull mask that looms behind it is truly disturbing. Danny and I add to this multi million pound industry when we remember that it’s Halloween and rush down to the village shop to stock up on sweets for trick or treat. Danny spends the evening praying that no child will visit and he can eat the sweets.
The best thing about Halloween for us is pumpkin soup. My friend Clare gave me this recipe that she adapted from an old vegetarian cook book Entertaining with Cranks. This is the best pumpkin soup I have ever tasted, so it appeals to vegetarians and hardened carnivores alike. We use the soft parts that have been scooped out from the pumpkin head.
Recipe for Cream of Pumpkin Soup (serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs/900g of pumpkin (peeled, seeds removed and chopped)
- I large onion (roughly chopped)
- 1 large potato (peeled and chopped)
- 1 large carrot (peeled and chopped)
- 1 stick of celery (chopped and thick strings discarded)
- 1.5 pts/700 ml of vegetable stock or add two tsp of marigold powder to the same amount of water.
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 1oz/25g of butter
- half pt of cream
- 2 tbl spoons of chopped chives to garnish
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation time 25 mins
Cooking time approx. 30 mins
Method:
- Melt the butter in a large heavy bottomed saucepan and add all the vegetables.
- Cook gently for 5 mins, stirring occasionally. Don’t allow the vegetables to brown.
- Pour in the stock and add the stock cube and stir.
- Simmer gently until the vegetables are just cooked (about 20 minutes) and then purée with an electric blender.
- Return the puréed vegetables to the saucepan and season to taste. Add another 1/2 tsp of Marigold if it needs lifting.
- Add the cream and re heat very gently and thin with more stock if necessary.
- Sprinkle with the chopped chives and serve.
Tricks and tips:
- If you plan to freeze this soup do not add the cream until you defrost and serve the soup
- The soup can also be made with butternut squash instead of pumpkin
Update October 2009: We have a brand new pumpkin soup recipe here.
Leave a reply
Hello Huw
Ooops 🙂
“Halloween has become a vast industry in England”
– but not in the rest of Britain? Sorry – I didn’t realise that I’d stumbled on a recipe that only pertained to one of the countries of the UK.
For Lorna
Cut off top of pumpkin and scoop out seed and stringy bits
fill with equal quantities of sweetcorn and small cubes of gruyere cheese
then pour in double cream to fill
add grated nutmeg salt and pepper
put on top cover with foil and bake until the pumpkin is soft.
scoop out contents and mix up a bit and serve with crusty bread
I do individual sized pumpkins and we eat it straight out of the shells
Hello Jimmy and Zunera
Glad that you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi Lorna
I’ve haerd about this recipe but can’t remember where I saw it.
Hi Dot
I think that you could leavr out the butter and cream it just wouldn’t taste so rich.
Can you leave out the butter & cream?
Has anyone got the recipe for pumpkin soup where you cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and add milk,cream,cheese etc, then bake in oven …
There is more to it than that but what I can’t remember -please help
Thank you so much for this easy and simple recipie , the soup was amazing . I thank you again .
Jimmy/ Zunera
Middlesex
Hi KarenO
Can’t wait to try your pumpkin roasted with a sprinkle of marigold! Thanks.
Hello Tanya
I do hope that this worked out for you.
HI Sorcha
I love this soup too and have found hat even soup haters enjoy it too ?
Hi Charlie
Thanks for this link. I’d love a veggie version.
Hello Jessie
Thanks for dropping by. I wish that I’d started to cook at your age.
Hi Lisa
You need to measure the finished soup and then work out the proportion of cream to each pot. Don’t ad the cream to the ones that you are going to freeze! The soup keeps well for 2-3 days in a fridge.
Hi Sam
Great news. You should have won first prize! Thanks so much for leaving a comment.
Lovely soup! I made this from pumpkin we hollowed out at work for a competition, and it went down a storm securing us second place for our recycling ;o)
I stumbled upon your soup recipe and realised that the first roasted belly pork was one of yours too – you’re now firmly in my ‘favourites’ list!
I have just bought a pumpkin and I am going to make the soup this weekend.
With regards to storage if I make the soup and then eat some straight away and then freeze the rest – how much cream should be used per portion? How many portions does this soup make? If I just refrigerate the soup after making how long will it keep for? Help