I do not like soup. Let me rephrase that – I hate soup and I hate it with a vengeance. Soup makes me think of sick food – the bland stuff that you always get when you are not feeling well. But lo and behold just yesterday, very reluctantly I tried this on a whim. And now, I am a changed woman!
This is SOOOOOO good that I almost finished the whole pot by myself while making it! And so easy to make too! It’s filling and so wonderful that it would do for a light and refreshing meal. I’l gush about it later – here’s the recipe.
Roasted Pumpkin Soup
- Prep Time : 5 minutes
- Cook Time : 20 minutes
- Yield : 3 servings
Ingredients
- Pumpkin - 600g, cubed
- Chicken stock/vegetable stock - 300 ml
- Large onions - 2 (unpeeled)
- Whole garlic - 1 (unpeeled)
- Olive oil - 4 tblsps
- Oregano - 1 tsp
- Fresh cream - 50 ml
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Toss the pumpkin, the onions and the garlic in olive oil and then in a salt, pepper & oregano mixture.
- Grease a baking pan and layer the pumpkin, garlic and onions in a single layer. Bake till the pumpkin is soft. (the tip of a knife should go into the flesh of the pumpkin effortlessly)
- Scoop the flesh of the pumpkin with a spoon into a blender.
- Here's the fun part - squeeze the garlic from the bottom side into the blender and the garlic should ooze out in a paste from the peel. It's practically like squeezing toothpaste out of the tube. Follow the same procedure for the onions, but make sure you cut off the tops first. Fun!
- Blend well till all the clots are gone, adding a bit of chicken/vegetable stock at a time. Transfer to a pan.
- Simmer the mixture till warm. Add to this the cream.
- Adjust the thickness of the soup as per your liking. You can add more stock or water till it reaches the right consistency.
- Add salt, pepper and additional oregano to taste.
- Serve with croutons sprinkled on top (get the recipe here) or serve it up with some homemade dinner rolls (recipe here) for a light and delightful dinner.
How should I describe this? What first hits you is the texture – satiny smooth, silky and luxurious that even though it’s good for you, it feels so, so naughty! Then the flavours start bursting in your mouth. First comes the garlic, followed closely by the roasted onion – a caramelized taste with subtle undertones of oregano, complementing the complexity of the stock, creating the ideal platform for the pumpkin to shine. And this is no ordinary pumpkin. Roasted to perfection, it gives an incredible smokiness backed by the satiny smooth texture it lends to the soup which sings well with the milky-creamy almost cheesy taste of the cream. It was oh-so-perfect that I almost cried!
It’s incredible how so little ingredients can make such a huge difference. I am simply, astounded by it all.
How can something so healthy taste so good? I think I just broke the ‘if it’s good for you, it must taste bad’ rule yesterday.
Don’t like pumpkin? Let me change your mind ;)
Helpful Tips
- You can sautee the onions and garlic and then blend it all in but the easy way out is to just roast it with the pumpkin. I mean, what the heck right. And the flavours work in your favour as well!
- Replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock for a completely vegetarian option. But vegans, I really don’t know how this would work for you without the cream.
- Beauty of this dish is that you can keep the veggies roasted a day before and use them for a quick fix meal the day after. There are so many ways of making your life easier.
- Go easy on the salt as there may already be salt in your stock. You can buy ready made stock, make the stock yourself or simply cheat by dissolving a soup cube in water.
- To make the chicken stock – Boil together some odd ends of chicken – neck, bones, gizzard, wings and etc and freeze your stock. This can be used up to 2-3 weeks. For veggies, boil together some carrot ends, leeks, spring onion with some salt and pepper and freeze. Defrost and use when required.
