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.
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