Winter Pumpkin Soup

So I had a pumpkin left over from Halloween. Wonderful, perfect, very handsome pumpkin, which served well with the help of a black ribbon and eyes all the way through the scary holiday. The question was, of course, what to do with it once I replaced the Halloween  decorations with Christmas ones. I wasn't in the mood for the conventional pumpkin pies or muffins, so I decided to make a soup.

I admit it, I sort of combined three recipes and added things of my own, such as the butter (I LOVE butter!). The result was an easy to make, creamy, tasty vegetarian soup. I added a little twist by roasting in a frying pan for a couple of minutes a handful of pumpkin seeds, which I then sprinkled on top when I served it – the crunchiness of the seeds was a pleasant contrast to the creamy softness of the soup – a pleasure for the palate.

So here is the recipe:

You need:

a piece of pumpkin, about 500 gr, peeled, no seeds

a potato, peeled

a carrot, peeled

a small onion

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 ½ cup milk (about 350 ml), warm

2 tbsp butter

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cumin

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp curry powder

salt to taste

Optional: Pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top (raw or salted and roasted in a pan for a couple of minutes)

You do:

1.      Dice the vegetables, put them in a pot together with the oil and cook for about 5 minutes.

2.      Add water, enough to cover the vegetables, and simmer at low heat for about 40 minutes or until completely tender.

3.      Add the spices and butter and puree with a hand blender.

4.      Add the milk and salt to taste and stir well. Add some hot water if too thick.

5.      Serve hot with pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top (optional).

Enjoy as a wonderful, warm winter soup!