Pumpkin Soup by Mike K-H

Here’s the first from our guest bloggers. Mike runs a few wonderfully eclectic websites including New Freebooters. He’s pretty nifty in the kitchen too and, despite sometimes referring to himself as “Man in a greasy shirt”, comes up with some great ideas. I had a go at his pumpkin soup recipe, and he’s kindly agreed to let me reproduce it here. When I tried it, it came out more like a casserole than a soup, but perhaps my pumpkin was too small. It was very tasty and definitely something I’d recommend.

Anyway, I always think that recipes are only for ideas. Just bung it in! Who needs to follow a load of instructions? That’s just too boring. So here’s Mike’s recipe – enjoy!

Pumpkin Soup – in a pumpkin

Mike says, “I’m not fond of pumpkin, but this recipe is tempting and fun.”

Ingredients

Serves 6 to 8 people

• 1 small firm, round pumpkin
• 1 large pot crème fraîche
• 1 litre milk
• 1 large bunch parsley
• soft cheese
• salt, pepper

Preparation

Thoroughly clean the skin of the pumpkin. With a sharp knife used perpendicular to the skin, cut a circle round the stalk to make a lid. Trim off any excess stalk, leaving a neat handle.

Use a sharp-edged spoon to remove all seeds and fibre from inside the pumpkin. Scrape off a little of the flesh and let it fall into the bottom of the pumpkin “soup tureen”.

Salt and pepper the scraped-off flesh, and cover it wth the crème fraîche.

Add the milk, and whip the mixture thoroughly.

Using scissors, finely cut a generous portion of parsley leaves onto the top of the mix (about one tablespoon of parsley per person). Discard the stalks.

Replace the “lid” and cook for 1hr 30 min in a preheated oven at 165°C (thermostat 5 or 6).

Remove from the oven, lift off the lid, and grate the cheese onto the top of the mix. Return to the oven, without the lid, and cook for a further 30 min, but do not burn the cheese.

Place the pumpkin on a serving dish, and decorate each soup plate with a little flesh from the lid.

Enjoy!

If you want to find out more about Mike please visit his website: New Freebooters