Creamy Pumpkin and Halloumi Soup
Serves: 4
Time: 45 minutes
Pumpkin soup is one of those classics that has definitely stood the test of time in my book. I simply love a good pumpkin soup and all the creative variations that work with it. Today’s version is a very simple super quick option because often speed is the key in our house.
I have been feeling the cold so I love to eat soup but if you want a more substantial dinner then check out this week’s blog post - there is a delicious beef ragu recipe.
Leftovers
If you are taking lunch to work a food thermos is perfect and they are everywhere nowadays. you can get the wide top ones from supermarkets.
Need a little something more?
Try roasting a can of chickpeas and adding them to your cheese mix for some added protein.
What you'll need
1/2 Jap pumpkin (these are the ones with the dark green mottled skin and vibrant orange inside)
1 brown onion
1 leek
3 sticks of celery
2 carrots
4 cloves of garlic
2 sprigs of oregano or thyme
1.5 litres of veggie or chicken stock
25g butter
1 block of halloumi
1/4 cup of toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds
Fresh mint to garnish
From the Pantry
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Optional Xtras for Lunch
A couple of slices of crusty bread
Butter
Prep and Cook
Prep Veg
Peel the skin off your onion and garlic and roughly chop.
Roughly chop oregano removing any large woody stalks.
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot, then sauté the onion, garlic and oregano until lightly translucent, remove from heat.
Peel the skin off your pumpkin and remove the seeds.
Cut the pumpkin into large even-sized chunks and place in the large pot.
Peel and roughly chop the carrot, celery and leek and add to your pot.
Cover with stock and season well.
Place back on the heat with a lid on and bring up to the boil.
What do I mean by systematic?
Line your cheese up in the pan one after the other so that when you go to flip the sides, you will be turning over the first piece that you put into the pan, the second and so on. If your pan isn't big enough to go straight up and down try following the directions of a clock when you place your cheese. Working this way means your cheese will all come out looking the same colour.
Turn down to a high simmer and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
at the same time..
Fry Haloumi
Cut your cheese into 6 or 8 slices.
Put a non-stick fry pan on a high heat.
Once your pan is hot, lay your cheese out in a systematic order.
Cook each side till light golden, this will only take around 30 seconds each side.
Remove from the pan and allow to cool.
Wipe your pan clean with a paper towel and put about 1/4 teaspoon of oil in along with your sunflower seeds. Stir occasionally till light golden.
Blitz Till Smooth
Once your soup has finished cooking and is lovely and soft, use an electric stick blender to blitz all of the ingredients till smooth.
Add butter and blitz again.
Season with salt and pepper.
Plate it up pretty
Crumble cheese into a bowl with your toasted sunflower seeds and some fresh chopped parsley, stir it all up with your hands.
Ladle soup into bowls, then drizzle over the top with a touch of oil. Imperfect drizzles are best.
Use soft hands to lightly build a semi-circle of the cheese mix across one-third of the soup.
Finish with fresh cracked pepper.
Serve with fresh crusty bread.
Enjoy!
Freshen up old bread
Crusty bread doesn't last long in our house but if you aren't planning on eating the whole loaf and want to save it for another day, wrap it up in cling film and pop it in the freezer. When you do want to eat it pull it out, unwrap it and spritz with cold water then wrap up with foil and pop it into a hot oven for about 15 minutes. When it's ready you should be able to knock on the crust and it will sound hard.
Lunch tomorrow
Soup is a fabulous option for lunch on a cold day. If back to back soup is too light for you and you want something a little more then you could add some celery sticks with almond butter or peanut butter as we aren’t using celery anywhere else.