Niamh Shields burst onto the blogging scene in 2007 and has since snapped up countless accolades for her food writing by The Times, The Telegraph and The Stylist, to name a few. Niamh is passionate about cooking, and when she's not travelling the world collecting culinary tips, she's at home concocting new and interesting meals for friends and family, including her foody fledgling niece. Here, Niamh shares all her know-how for delicious and easy home-cooking.
Spritely Halloween pumpkin soup with lemongrass, chilli & ginger
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Pumpkins are not just for Jack O’ Lanterns or pumpkin pie. No sir! Pumpkins are utterly delicious. You may remember my recent pumpkin mash on this blog. This time I have turned the humble – and cheap – pumpkin into an aromatic dish for Halloween.
Now, don’t be afraid of pumpkin. They look big and intimidating, but roast it in quarters with the skin on and you can scoop lovely soft flesh out which is perfect for soup. Not only is this the easy way, it is also the best for flavour, the water evaporates off and you are left with something far more pumpkin-y than before.
Lemongrass, with its gorgeous citrus high notes, is wonderful with pumpkin. Some chilli is required for a Halloween soup – it has to be a little scary - and to round it all off some lovely fresh ginger. If you haven’t used lemongrass before, worry not. It’s also easy when you know how and is very easy to source these days too in most supermarkets. Simply peel the outer rough leaves – usually about two – and shred finely.
Now, if you’re ever feeling poorly, this soup – minus the chilli – will do wonders for your tum. It’s very gentle and soothing and the lemongrass will pep you up, although maybe reduce it to one lemongrass stalk. Pumpkin itself is an anti-oxidant powerhouse and is rich in B vitamins too. If you are watching your weight, pumpkin is very low in calories. So, it is a winner all around, wouldn’t you agree?
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 pumpkin, approx 1.5 kg (whole pumpkin weight)
1 onion, peeled & finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 inch ginger root, peeled and finely chopped or grated
2 lemongrass stalks, rough outer leaves removed, halved lengthways and shredded
800ml good chicken or vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 red chilli, fresh coriander and a little cream to garnish (optional)
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180 deg C.
- Quarter your pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and string flesh in the centre with a spoon. You can use the seeds if you like – they’re delicious and very healthy oven toasted with a little chilli and salt – discard the stringy bits.
- Drizzle with olive oil and season with some salt. Roast for approx 30 minutes until the flesh is soft.
- If using the extra chilli for the garnish, brush with olive oil and roast with the pumpkin on the side.
- While the pumpkin is roasting, gently sauté the onion over a medium heat in a little light oil (sunflower/rapeseed – whatever you normally use).
- After 8-10 minutes, the onion should be becoming translucent – don’t let it brown.
- Add the lemongrass, garlic, ginger and chilli and sauté for a minute or so, before adding the stock and bay leaves. Bring to just before the boil and reduce the heat.
- When the pumpkin is roasted, scoop out the pumpkin flesh with a spoon and add to the hot stock. Bring to just before the boil again and allow to cook for 10 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaves and blend until fine. If your lemongrass stalks weren’t very fine you may need to pass it through a sieve, I don’t bother as I love them.
- Serve hot.
Garnish: peel the blackened roasted chilli and finely slice and serve on top of the soup with a swirl of cream and some coriander leaves. It gives it a lovely fiery freshness and the cream is a little soothing.
Enjoy!
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