It’s been a really long hiatus from blogging. Busyness caught up with me and I thought I had no more time to be self indulgent and I abandoned my previous aim to blog every week or fortnight. But life has caught up with me and because of a recent serious diagnosis and surgery I’ve been home bound. At week 2 after a grueling 18 hour long surgery I was getting bored and a friend popped by to give me air dry clay…a sweet thought but the clay is still in the box.
What got me out of my funk was cooking. When you lie in bed and online food shopping is your mental stimulation for the day, the kitchen became my place of rehabilitation. Of course my other problem was that my freezers were becoming chock full of meat that needed to be cooked, which is why week 3 post surgery I ended up cooking Sunday dinner for the family again.
I did keep it relatively simple – helper D helped me marinate the lamb the day before and kid#2 helped me to handle the roasting tray on the day itself. The creamy mushroom pasta and kale salad were also simple to put together but surprisingly energy sapping with the body catching up with the demands of bending, lifting and turning which one doesn’t even think about when working in a kitchen. The pumpkin soup was satisfying to do as it was simple and flavorful. I decided to feature this simply because I’ve been through so many pumpkin soup recipes before but this is my ultimate favorite for an umami and comforting soup.
Pumpkin soup is one of the few keto-friendly soups if you stay away from adding honey, sugar and pay attention to the other ingredients in this soup. Roasting the vegetables in this soup also allows smoky caramelization to happen and I swear the whole roasted bulb of garlic is the secret ingredient that makes this soup so more-ish.
Kid#1’s girlfriend had Sunday dinner with us and I was chuffed to see that she had 2 helpings of soup! This soup is also great as a leftover as I had it with vegemite toast soldiers for breakfast!
Secret Recipe Roasted Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
- 1/2 pumpkin or squash, peeled and cut into large chunks
- 1 medium onion, quartered
- 1 head of garlic
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup cream
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
- In a large mixing bowl, add the olive oil, oregano and thyme to the chunks of pumpkin and toss together
- Line a large baking tray
- Spread out the pumpkin pieces. Add the onion chunks on the tray as well. Wrap the garlic bulb in aluminum foil and place on tray also.
- Bake the vegetables for 30 minutes till lightly caramelized.
- When done, place the pumpkin and onions into a soup pot. Unwrap the garlic bulb from the aluminum foil and cut the tip of the cloves with scissors. Squeeze out the soft garlic into the pot and discard the skins.
- Add the chicken stock and water and boil for about 15-20 minutes.
- Blend the soup with a hand stick blender or blend the soup in batches. Return back to the pot and add the cream, salt and pepper to taste and reheat over medium heat till just simmering. Stir through and serve.
Still Feeling Peckish 