Spiced cream of pumpkin soup with Seville orange

Taken from "VEG: simple, stylish and seasonal vegetarian cooking" by Catherine Mason (Pauntley Press, 2001, ISBN: 0-9534879-2-8, price £12.99)
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This soup is flavoured with tangy, bitter Seville oranges – the kind used for marmalade – a fantastic and much under-used ingredient. In the UK they are only available for a short time in the middle of winter, so if you can't get them use a little lemon juice instead.

The smoked paprika also falls into the category of very nice but not absolutely essential. You can often find it in the specialist ingredients section of major supermarkets, and if you see it I'd urge you to buy some. It has a wonderful and distinctive aroma, and a little goes a long way.

Any type of pumpkin or winter squash may be used.

• 700 to 900 g (1½ to 2 lb) pumpkin flesh (buy about a third extra to allow for wastage)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large or 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 potato, peeled and diced
• 3 stalks of celery, sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon chopped thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 litre (2 pints) vegetable stock
• grated rind and juice of 2 Seville oranges (or the juice of half a lemon)
• 60 g (2 oz) creamed coconut
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar if necessary
• fresh snipped chives
• swirl of crème fraîche to garnish (omit for vegans)

Either peel and dice the pumpkin or, if you have the oven on for something else, halve, de-seed, and bake the pumpkin cut sides down on an oiled tray in the oven until tender.

Heat the oil in a large soup pan, add the vegetables (raw pumpkin, onions, celery, garlic and potato), sage, thyme and paprika, and fry, stirring, over a moderate heat for a few minutes. Pour in the stock and bring the soup to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer until the vegetables are completely tender – about 20-30 minutes.

If using pre-baked pumpkin, scoop out the flesh and add it to the pan towards the end of the cooking time.

Puree the soup in a food processor or blender in batches and return it to the pan to re-heat. Add the orange rind and juice, stir in the creamed coconut, and adjust the seasoning if necessary. It may need a little sugar to correct the acidity. If it seems too thick, add a little more hot vegetable stock (or milk for non-vegans).

Serve out the soup and garnish each portion with crème fraîche and chives.

SERVES 4 FOR LUNCH, 6 AS A STARTER

Recipe copyright © 2001 Catherine Mason | other sample recipes