Roast pumpkin soup

Ingredients:

1 medium pumpkin (approx. 800g)
2 large carrots
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions
1 teaspoon paprika (smoked or regular)
½ teaspoon cumin seeds

1 x 400g can of cannellini beans (don’t drain or rinse)
Approx. 1 ½ cups water
1t vegetable stock powder

1 teaspoon salt
To serve: toppings of your choice, e.g. toasted pumpkin seeds, fresh chopped parsley, grated Angel Food cheddar or feta or sour cream, chilli sauce, tahini, croutons

Instructions

1.        Preheat oven to 180C (fan bake) or 200C (regular).

2.        Cut pumpkin into big chunks. No need to peel off the skin or remove the seeds at this stage - that will be easier to do once it’s roasted.

3.        Cut the top and bottom off the carrots and cut them into chunks (smaller than the pumpkin pieces, as they are denser and take longer to cook). No need to peel the carrots for this recipe.

4.        Toss pumpkin and carrots in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and arrange on a baking tray.

5.        Peel the onions and cut them into wedges. Toss with 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, paprika, cumin seeds and a pinch of salt. Wrap loosely in tin foil and nestle the parcel in amongst the pumpkin and carrot.

6.        Bake pumpkin, carrots and onions until quite soft, about an hour (this will vary according to how small you cut the pieces).

7.        Once cool enough to handle, scoop out pumpkin seeds and remove pumpkin skin.

8.        Blend the roast vegetables in a food processor with cannellini beans, water, stock powder and salt. Process until smooth.

9.        Add more water if you like, but I like making a nice thick soup that will support lots of toppings!

10.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

11.  Add the toppings just before serving.

Notes

Either buttercup pumpkin or butternut squash work well for this. Buttercup gives a slightly superior result but butternut is much easier to cut! If you’re struggling to cut the pumpkin, cooking it for about 5 minutes in the microwave can make this task a lot easier.

Roasting the vegetables develops the natural sweetness through caramelisation and evaporates moisture which concentrates the savoury notes. This all means a richer soup with more layers of flavour. 

The soup freezes very well.