Seasons & Soup

Seasons & Soup

Autumn has come & gone i spent some of my bits of time admiring all the autumn leaves, even bringing some inside but alas as the house is so warm from the fire they only lasted a few hours before they crumpled & died. a stem of crumpled leaves in a glass jar still sits on my table mmm
from Autumn we now meander on into Winter the lovely cold season of woolly hats, coats & scarves, hot hearty meals, fresh home made bread.
most of the beautiful colour has been stripped from the trees leaving behind the bones.

as sit here looking out my window on a cold rainy day i see piles of leaves ready to go in the compost bay, a few determined leaves clinging to their branches on the maple tree, their beautiful colours warm my heart.
out of all the trees in my yard, my favorite has to be the giant blood plum trees standing guard with their winter arms swaying in the breeze, green lycan clinging to the bark.
these trees are beautiful in all seasons, the end of winter is marked with the first buds showing themselves as they spring forth with new leaves & spring finds them covered with blossom & buzzing bees, a hammock between the two gives me somewhere to relax, read & think.
summer the flowers turn to beautiful dark purple fruit that is sweet & juicy.
as the weather starts to cool again the last purple leaves fall, the hammock is stored away & winter is here again.

on this cold winters day i think a recipe is in order pumpkins are ripe & bringing visions of a thick orange soup with a crusty sourdough loaf
whether you grow your own or pick some up at the green grocer they are super cheap,
this is a very easy soup to make it just takes a bit of time [you can spread it over a few days as i sometimes do when time is limited]

Pumpkin Soup

this recipe is not exact as im not big on measuring
choose the type of pumpkin you like best
for me i like either butternut or jap
this recipe will make about 4lt of soup [ i make a lot more so i can freeze individual portions for lunches or quick dinners]

3 medium butternuts or 1 medium jap [ about 31/2 to 4 kg ]
chopped into about 2 inch chunks
1 large full head of garlic [ russian is best as it has large cloves ]
1 tab oil
1 large onion finely chopped
1/2 tea nutmeg
1 tea cumin
course salt & cracked black pepper to
taste vegetable stock powder No Salt Add [depending on how thick you like your soup]
extra oil
oven 190 Celsius

place chopped pumpkin & whole unpeeled garlic cloves into oven pans,
drizzle with the extra oil toss to coat bake for 20 mis or so until garlic is soft, remove the garlic [dont over cook]
bake the pumpkin until its soft & has some black caramel bits [adds to the flavour]


place all pumpkin into a large mixing bowl squeeze the garlic from the skin into the pumpkin
heat the oil in a large pot over a medium heat cook the onion until it is translucent & soft
add the nutmeg, cumin, salt & pepper cook for 1 min stirring the whole time.

make up your stock using boiling water 2 or 3lt at a time
you can use a food processor but as i dont have one i use my blender
place a small amount of pumpkin plus the onion mix into the blender with some stock blend until smooth & pour/scrape into your big pot
continue until all the pumpkin is blended

your soup will be thick so add water to thin it down to your desired consistency, heating it on a low to medium heat
[we like ours thick so it sticks to the bread]
serve with a crusty bread

freezes well/defrost in the fridge