Pumpkin and Red Pepper Soup

Pumpkin and Red Pepper Soup 

• 1 Tbsp cooking oil
• 500 g pumpkin flesh chopped
• 1 red bell pepper peeled and chopped into small cubes
• 1 large onion peeled and chopped into cubes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp paprika powder
• 1 tsp of ground cumin and ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp of ground cloves 
• 20g of butter/ 2 tbsp oil of your choice
• chopped chives 
• yoghurt/limes to garnish

1 If not leftover from Halloween, open your pumpkin and de-seed. Chop into large wedges leaving the skin on and roast in a preheated oven at 200C/180C fan-assisted for 25 minutes till tender. Let it cool before peeling off the skin. No need to chop as it can be broken into chunks when cool enough to handle.

2 In a soup pan, place the cooking oil, chopped onions, red pepper cubes and 1/2 tsp salt on a medium heat and stir occasionally until onions are soft. Once soft add the garlic and all the spices with the thyme and stir to combine.

3 Break up the pumpkin without the skin into rough chunks and add to the onion mixture, heating this further until fragrant for a couple of minutes.

4 Add the stock to the pan and let it simmer for everything to soften further – about 15 minutes.

5 Turn off the heat, let it cool slightly if using a hand blender to blitz the mixture to a smooth consistency. Alternatively, use a blender; waiting for the soup to cool before mixing. Nobody likes a face-full of hot soup, as far as I know.

6 Whilst blitzing and blending, add a knob of butter/oil to give the soup a lovely sheen.

7 To serve, dollop a spoon of yoghurt and lime juice into the middle of the soup and swirl around. Sprinkle with chopped chives if desired.