Winter Soup: Sweet Spiced Pumpkin Soup

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's winter time here in Sydney. I'm not sure why but it seems so much colder than the past few years. Where I had only put my heater on a few times last winter, it seems that this winter I've had the heater on nearly every night and I am dreading the next electricity bill.

So with winter and the cold weather comes comfort food and I love the old pumpkin soup for a quick and easy filler. Over the years I've tried a number of different recipes for pumpkin soup but have more or less settled on this version I'm going to share. I'm eating a bowlful now as I type this post...loving the velvety finish ~ yum!

Sweet Spiced Pumpkin Soup
Approx 6-8 hearty servings

4-6 cups pumpkin (approx sizing as I forgot to weigh it, sorry!)
4 large carrots, peeled and quartered
1 sweet potato, peeled and quartered
6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 large onion
2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock (or 1 stock cube)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
To serve, honey and nutmeg (to taste)

Method One - Baked
Chop pumpkin, carrots, sweet potato, potato and onion into large pieces and bake at 200°C oven until soft. You can leave the pumpkin skin on as it will be easier to remove when it is soft after baking. Once vegetables are soft, allow to cool and scoop pumpkin off skins and add to a large saucepan with other vegetables and stock. Bring to boil and allow to cool slightly before adding nutmeg and blending with a handblender until smooth.

Method Two - Boiled
Sauté onion in a large saucepan until it is just translucent, add vegetables and stock. Make sure there is enough water to cover the vegies. Bring to the boil and then turn heat down to low-med to allow the potatoes and carrots to cook to the stage where they 'mash' if pushed against the side of the saucepan with a spoon. You may wish to cook pumpkin and sweet potato separately to the carrot and potato as they require a short cooking time. Allow to cool slightly before adding nutmeg and blending with a handblender until smooth.

Serve with a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Notes: Now usually when I do a baked dinner I will add a few extra pieces of pumpkin, carrots, sweet potato and potatoes and set them aside to make soup. Baked vegies add more flavour, Carrot is for a richer colour, Sweet potato is for sweet flavour, Potato is for a richer thicker texture. Honey adds just a little bit of pizazz or if you're more traditional then serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Freezing Tip for Soups click here

Winter Soup: Hearty Potato Bacon and Leek Soup

So it's winter time here in Sydney and the making of my potato, bacon and leek soup is long overdue. This soup is nice and thick and the bacon makes it a meal instead of a snack. (I used a little more bacon than usual which you can see in the picture...mmm bacon!)

In all fairness I should warn you that since I started making this version, I've often found myself disappointed with the potato and leek soup at cafés as they are usually weak in flavour, too watery or they have a funny green tinge due to the leek being blended up with the potato instead of nice chunks of soft buttery leek ribboned throughout.

I guess I've been ruined for all potato and leek soup from cafés nowadays and my sincerest apologies to you if you find yourself ruined likewise after making this one too. (hee hee!)

Hearty Potato Bacon and Leek Soup
Approx 6-8 hearty servings

1 large leek, washed and trimmed
5-6 rashers of bacon (or more or less to taste)
6-8 large potatoes (depends on size of saucepan)
2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock (or 1 stock cube)

Trim the rind off the bacon and set aside as it will be used later. Dice the bacon and leek and sauté in a large saucepan until the leek is glossy and just softened. Scrape this mixture into a bowl and put aside. You should not need to add any oil as the bacon fat will be plenty to stop any sticking to the pan.  

 

Whilst the bacon and leek is sautéeing, peel and quarter the potatoes and then once the saucepan is emptied of bacon and leek, place the potatoes in the saucepan together with the rind and stock and enough water to bring the level to just over the potatoes.The flavours from the leek and bacon will add to the flavour of the stock.

Bring to the boil and then turn heat down to low-med to allow the potatoes to cook to the stage where they 'mash' if pushed against the side of the saucepan with a spoon.

Remove the rinds and allow to cool slightly before blending the mixture with a handblender until smooth and then pour into the bowl of bacon and leek.

Serve with a season of pepper and your favourite toasted bread!

Note: The above quantities are all approximate as I find that it depends on the size of your saucepan or pot. I tend to make big quantities of soup that I can freeze for lunches or quick dinners. You may find that you prefer to thin your soup down a bit more than I do. That's fine, all you need is a little hot water to get it to the consistency that you prefer.

Freezing Tip for Soups
As I only have a small freezer I like to be able to stack things as flat as possible so I use the ziplock sandwich-sized bags to freeze my soup in. You just need to make sure the soup is cool enough before pouring into the bags. Once they are filled with a mugful of soup, simply zip the bags and lay them flat on the bench, push any pockets of air towards the zip and re-ziplock the bag. If I have the shelf space I will stack them one or two high and then once frozen restack them to the side of the freezer. When re-heating, I usually microwave the whole bag for 20-30secs which is enough to thaw the soup (without melting the plastic) to be able to pour into a mug to complete reheating of the soup.