The Back Yard Lemon Tree

Pumpkin soup is one of Australia’s favorite soups, in fact I think we’re a bit obsessed with it. In the early nineties a friend moved to Ireland with her Irish boyfriend and they started a Melbourne-style cafe in Dublin. My friend, got so sick of Australian tourists coming into the cafe and asking for pumpkin soup, in whiny Australian accents, she deliberately left it off the menu. Another friend living in Hong Kong at the time got so homesick she made special meal of roast lamb and pumpkin soup, all the ingredients were overpriced in Hong Kong and it was one of the most expensive meals she’d ever made but it absolutely quelled the homesickness. Even though pumpkin soup is still the most searched soup recipe in Australia I feel like the nineties were the era of peak pumpkin soup, this was when roasted pumpkin soup first appeared and was on regular rotation on most cafe menus. It completely upped the ante in the pumpkin soup stakes and dominated until it was knocked its perch by Thai pumpkin soup (which is actually pretty good too).

Note on recipe – My only addition to this recipe is the sweet smoked paprika. It gives it a sweet smokey undertone that is amazingly good.

Roasted pumpkin soup

Adapted from Taste

• 1 1/2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 large butternut pumpkin (about 1.5 kg) peeled and chopped into 3 cm chunks
• 1 litre of Maissel chicken style stock
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium leek, trimmed, washed and sliced
• 2 medium cream delight potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon of smoked sweet Dulce paprika. (Optional)
• Pure cream or creme Fraiche
• 1 tablespoon of chopped chives

1. Preheat oven to 200C or 180C fan-forced. Toss pumpkin and garlic in olive and season with salt and pepper. Line two baking trays with baking paper and place pumpkin and garlic in a single layer trays. Bake for 40 minutes until pumpkin is golden, tender and caramelised around the edges.
2. Squeeze garlic from skin, and discard skin. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat and saute leek until softened, add chopped potato and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add paprika and stir until fragrant. Add stock and 2 cups of cold water. Season with pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until potato is tender. Add pumpkin and garlic simmer for about 10 minutes until flavors are melded.
3. Set aside to cool slightly. Blend soup in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan and gently heat through, stirring.
4. Serve hot in bowls, drizzled with cream and sprinkled with chives.