Pumpkin Soup with Pickled California Prune Salsa

Year on year the internet gets inundated with pumpkin soup recipes. I wanted to come up with a recipe that firstly was an easy way to make a delicious soup, but secondly something that cut through the rich velvety texture of the soup and get a real hit of flavour and sharpness, the perfect contrast.

Ingredients

Makes 4 portions

1 tbsp of olive oil

700g of peeled and chopped pumpkin and butternut squash

1 large white onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of ground black pepper

1/2 a red chilli

1 tbsp of ground cumin

1 tsp of ground coriander

1/2 tsp of ground ginger

1 pint of vegetable stock

10g of coriander stalk

For the salsa

8 California Prunes

1/2 red chilli

1 lime

10g of chopped fresh coriander leaf and stalk

Here’s How

Place the oil into a large pan or pressure cooker

Add the chopped squash, pumpkin and onion

Crush and add the garlic

Season with with salt and pepper, then stir together

Add the ground spices and chopped red chilli

throw the stock cube into the pan followed by 1 pint of boiling water, its important to the add this boiling to keep up the temperature of the pan.

If using a pressure cooker place the lid on and cook full pressure for 8 minutes, if your using a normal pan just pop a lid on and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.

While the soup is cooking make the pickled California Prunes.

Dice up the prunes and mix with the juice from the limes

Add in the finely chopped red chilli and coriander.

when the soup is ready blend using a stick blender unit smooth.

Taste the soup and season according to your own tastes.

Serve up the soup and finish with a spoonful of the pickled California Prune salsa and a drizzle of olive oil for a silky finish.

Check out Simply Good Food TV's facebook feed for the video