The BEST Pumpkin Soup (Yes Really!!)

This is my favourite pumpkin soup and dare I claim it is the best pumpkin soup ever! It has the smoothest texture and a wonderful balance of flavours. It also has a couple of secret ingredients to make it a gorgeous vibrant colour. It doesn't need any cream so it's full of vegetables and yet has the silkiest texture. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!

I used to think that thick pumpkin soup was my favourite type of pumpkin soup until I tried a Japanese pumpkin soup from a restaurant that was thinner but had an amazingly silky texture to it. I always thought that a pumpkin soup had to be thick and creamy to be appealing but that soup changed my whole perspective on pumpkin soup. And yes I think about food way too much.

Tips for Making the BEST Pumpkin Soup

1 - I recommend using butternut squash or pumpkin or kabocha if you can get your hands on that.

2 - I also recommend adding two other vegetables to pumpkin soup. I use sweet potato for sweetness and body and I use carrot for sweetness. Yes the secret to my amazing pumpkin soup is adding other vegetables too!

3 - I love this chicken stock powder. Other ones just don't have the same chicken flavour. You can buy it from Asian grocery stores - I promise you won't look back. I've converted friends to it.

4 - Sugar is another secret ingredient for the best pumpkin soup. My natural instinct is to add as little sugar as possible and only when it is needed but I promise it makes the world of difference with this soup without making it sugary or dessert-like and considering this makes a LOT of pumpkin soup you don't end up having that much sugar (3-4 teaspoons of sugar for over a litre of soup).

5 - Use a Thermomix or a high speed blender for the smoothest texture. I promise that you don't need any cream at all - you get an amazing silkiness from the high speed blending.

This soup was made a couple of weeks ago when I was sick with RSV. So far I'm still dodging COVID although I know it's only a matter of time before I get it. I had been out at an event a few days prior and it coincided with that wild burst of windy weather. We're learning all sorts of things about this house and the first is that it is absolutely freezing. No matter how many fireplaces, heaters and air conditioners you turn on you still need to wear layers in this house.

I had a jam packed weekend coming up - there was a cheese event, an afternoon tea, cocktails, dinner and lunch. It was my dream weekend. But on Tuesday I started to feel a bit off. I did a RAT just in case but it was negative. When it got a bit worse I decided to get a PCR test. It was much busier at the testing station near us. Usually there are no other cars but the polar freeze meant that it was busy. I got my results back in a few hours. I was negative for COVID and Influenza A and B but I was positive for RSV. RSV? What even was that?

I had to look it up and respiratory syncytial virus a flu type of virus that causes an infection of the lungs and respiratory tract. I didn't have a fever, sneezing, wheezing or coughing but I had congestion, a runny nose and a lowered appetite. But my friends came up with the goods. Sammie delivered me a belated birthday present, an oodie which is a wearable blanket lined with fleece, Valentina gave me a tonne of lemons and a whole pumpkin. I made lots of honey and lemon drinks and this pumpkin soup - thankfully this soup was so easy to make that I could make it even with minimal effort!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you had RSV? How about COVID or influenza? And are you a big pumpkin soup fan?

BEST Pumpkin Soup

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serves: 6

• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 onion, peeled
• 2 tablespoons butter (I used Coppertree Farms truffle butter)
• 750g/1.6lbs butternut pumpkin or kabocha squash, cubed
• 1 sweet potato (around 300g/10.6ozs)
• 1 large carrot (around 180g/6ozs)
• 1100mls/2.3pints water plus extra 1 cup of water
• 5 teaspoons chicken stock powder
• 1- 1.5 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
• 3-4 teaspoons sugar (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Step 1 - Dice the garlic and onion and sauté in butter for 4-5 minutes on low medium heat in a large pot until softened. Add the pumpkin, sweet potato , carrot, water and stock powder and simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on. Add the salt, sugar and black pepper and puree in a high speed blender until smooth. Taste for seasoning and serve.

Thermomix directions: Place the garlic and onion in the bowl and set to 10 seconds speed #5. Add the butter and set to 5 minutes, Varoma, Speed #1. Add the pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, water and stock powder and set to 35 minutes, Varoma, Speed #1. Add the salt, sugar and black pepper and cool for 10 minutes with the lid off. Add additional cup of water and then place the lid back on and set to 30 seconds and blend at speed 5 increasing to 8 until smooth. Taste for seasoning and serve.