Pumpkin & Spanish Paprika Soup

Autumn/Fall is has been with us for a while now and pumpkins are bountiful at this time of year. So as per usual I came up with another delicious and tasty soup. You can do this soup by using the flesh from your pumpkins that you may have carved for Halloween. The sweetness of the pumpkin flesh and the unmistakeable taste of Spanish paprika make this soup an explosion of flavour on your palate with every spoonful. If you do not have Spanish paprika stocked in, you can use regular paprika but make sure it is the sweet variety. You can prepare this soup as a starter at a dinner party or as a delightful supper accompanied by buttered rustic bread. If you want to make this soup vegan just omit the butter and used a little bit more oil. So, go on, give it a go and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did! For 4-6 people you will need...

• 850g pumpkin, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 1 large potato, diced
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 teaspoons sweet Spanish paprika
• Few celery leaves [optional]
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ½ litres [7 cups] boiling water
• 2 vegetable stock gel pots [or cubes]
• 15g Butter & 1 tablespoon olive oil, for frying
• Flaked almonds, to serve
• Pumpkin seeds, to serve

How to...

1. In a large stock pot, heat the oil and butter on medium heat and fry the onions for about 5-7 minutes until soft and translucent.
2. Now add the garlic and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the pumpkin, potato, paprika, celery leaves [if using] and stock gel pots or cubes. Give it a good stir and season with freshly ground black pepper. 
4. Pour in the boiling water and stir well, bring to a boil. Now reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes to an hour.
5. Turn off the heat and let cool down a bit before blending with a stick blender or in a jug blender until you get a velvety consistency.
6. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle with the flaked almonds & pumpkin seeds. Serve hot.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Baby Pumpkins Stuffed with Camembert, Vegetables & Bacon

I was at the supermarket and came across these cute baby pumpkins that were called Munchkin pumpkins. I could not resist buying a couple of them and I started thinking instantly on how am I going to cook them. After doing some research I came up with this idea. It turned out incredibly tasty, creamy, salty, sweet, crunchy, crispy...just wonderful. As we were cooking this on a week night I obviously relied on Amanda to help us with the preparation. In fact, to make sure that everything is cooked evenly, everything should be chopped finely and basically the same size. If you want to turn this recipe into a vegetarian one omit the bacon and to turn it vegan, omit the bacon and cheese and use vegetable oil instead of butter. So, Halloween is upon us once again and pumpkin recipes are on high demand, so I will try and come up with a couple more before the spooky night!! Give this a go and you will definitely not be sorry, they are delicious! For two baby pumpkins you will need...

• 2 Baby pumpkins or small Butternut squash
  
• 6 mushrooms, finely sliced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 red pepper, finely diced
• 1 green chilli, finely diced
• 1 celery stick, finely diced
• Some pumpkin/butternut squash flesh, finely diced
• 3 fresh sage leaves
• Vegetable oil or butter
• Salt & pepper
• 175g bacon, finely diced
• 150g Camembert, sliced
• Dry sherry

 How to...

1. Heat oil or butter together with the sage leaves,
2. Add vegetables and cook covered on medium heat until soft, 
3. Now remove sage leaves, add bacon and mushrooms and cook on higher heat until mushrooms are wilted and all liquid has disappeared. Add salt, pepper and some dry sherry. Cook, stirring frequently until all alcohol has evaporated. Turn off heat.
4. Add Camembert slices at the bottom of the pumpkin/squash and top with the filling. Add some extra Camembert on top of the filling, cover with pumpkin lid and bake at 180 deg for 50 minutes to an hour.
5. Serve hot!!

Enjoy!!

R&A

Pumpkin & Sweet Pepper Soup

Pumpkin season is upon us! Since pumpkins are so cheap and so versatile, my mind starts going crazy in the kitchen to come up with new ways to cook it. So far we used it in 3 recipes. We made the traditional Maltese hearty vegetable soup called either Minestra or Kawlata if cooked with a ham shank. Another recipe we made was a recipe Amanda came across on the net which really intrigued us, Pumpkin pie cupcakes, these turned out delicious, just like mini sweet pumpkin pies. Incidentally today is the first day of autumn and I came up with this delicious soup which is very easy to prepare, as are all soups after all! Our tips for a perfect soup are, not too much liquid and slow cooking. We put bacon to add saltiness and balance the sweetness of the pumpkin and vegetables. If you would like a vegetarian version of the soup omit the bacon and add a couple of tablespoons of light soy sauce instead. Give it a go, you will need…

• 400g Peeled Pumpkin, chopped into cubes
• 2 Potatoes, chopped
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 1 Carrot, finely chopped
• 1 Green pepper, finely chopped
• 1 Red pepper, finely chopped
• ½ Savoy cabbage, shredded
• 8 small tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• 4 smoked back bacon rashers, chopped (use soy sauce instead if vegan or vegetarian)
• 2 litres vegetable or ham stock
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil

How to...

1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onion, carrot and chopped peppers and cooked until soft stirring frequently until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the bacon if using and continue to cook until bacon turns brownish.
3. Add the pumpkin, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, thyme, black pepper and stock and stir well. Simmer on medium heat for about an hour or more if you like.
4. When done, blend the soup in a blender or with a hand-held blender even and serve warm.

Enjoy!!

R&A