The soup you didn't know you needed
If you only make one pumpkin soup this winter, make it this one.
Are we in mid-winter yet? I’m taking a gamble that we are, based on the fact that a) I’m heartily sick of all my warm clothes, and b) that I’ve just made pumpkin soup.
It feels a bit wrong to be down on pumpkin soup - so cheap, so easy to make - but it’s so easy to get sick of it. To combat this feeling, I reserve making it for as late in the season as I can get away with. If you’re only going to make one pumpkin soup this winter, make it this one. This is very low-effort - a bit of chopping, a shove in the oven, a bit of blending - for excellent results.
Tandoori pumpkin soup
If you haven’t got the requisite amount of pumpkin, sub in some kūmara. Carrot or parsnip would also work well. See below for a tandoori paste recommendation.
If you don’t have a stick blender, there are two choices: use a potato masher and a lot of suppressed rage, or tip everything into a food processor and whiz until smooth. Both options work (but really, get a stick blender, they are so useful).
Lastly, if you like the sound of these flavours but cannot bear the thought of pumpkin soup, then blend the vegetables with a dollop of yoghurt and a spoonful of tahini for a lush dip instead.
Serves 3-4
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp tandoori paste
1kg peeled and deseeded pumpkin and/or kūmara, cut into 4cm chunks
2 large onions, peeled and cut into chunks
4 cloves garlic, peeled
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp tandoori paste
3 cups stock or water
Salt and pepper
Juice of 1 lemon, to taste
Heat the oven to 200C. Line a large low-sided oven tray with baking paper.
Put the oil and tandoori paste in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the pumpkin/kūmara, onion and garlic and toss until everything is well coated in the oily spicy stuff.
Tip the vegetables evenly onto the prepared baking tray. Tuck the garlic cloves underneath the other vegetables so they don’t burn. Season well with salt and pepper.
Roast for 20-25 minutes, flipping everything over at the halfway point. The vegetables should be caramelised and tender to touch when done - if not, keep cooking.
Remove from the oven and scrape the contents of the tray into a large pot. Pour in 2 cups of stock and heat until bubbling. Remove from the heat and whiz until smooth with a stick blender (or see above for other options). Stir in the remaining cup of stock and heat until bubbling. Squeeze in the lemon juice and then taste and adjust the seasoning. Add more stock or water if it’s very thick.
Serve with a swirl of Greek yoghurt and some fake sourdough.
Good Things
Palatial Tandoori paste
Of course it is perfectly possible to make your own tandoori paste, but if you want a shortcut, this one is excellent, readily available in most supermarkets and - fun fact - part of the Barkers’ empire and made in Geraldine.
‘One Day I Shall Astonish The World’
I’ve just re-read this for the second or maybe third time - and it’s every bit as good (not to mention occasionally toe-curlingly awkward) as I remember. It’s a story of friends and frenemies, thwarted hopes and undying dreams - and it’s achingly funny thanks to the droll narration of key character, Susan. Once you’ve read this one, read Nina Stibbe’s first book, Love, Nina, which was based on letters she wrote to her sister while nannying for the editor of the London Review of Books (the family lived in Primrose Hill, Alan Bennett lived across the road) and Reasons To Be Cheerful.
‘You’ve just made sweet scrambled eggs’
Here’s someone fun to follow on Insta: Charlotte Heal-Cohen makes entertaining content where she tries viral and supposedly healthier sweet recipes - with often disastrous results. In between the failures (such as blending mango, cream cheese, Greek yoghurt and eggs and making the ‘wet and dry sweet scrambled eggs’ mentioned above, she also shares properly good food of her own making.