Cheesy Pumpkin Soup recipe

Autumn seems long ago, the harvests are mostly gathered in, the vegetable garden is tucked up under a layer of snow and winter has well and trully settled in. Here, at Les Trois Chenes Bed and Breakfast, Limousin, France, we have the central heating on, the shutters closed against the dark evenings and the logs burning brightly on the wood stove. What could be better to warm the cockles of your heart than this delicious, cheesy, pumpkin soup?

It is also great for Halloween. Carefully scoop out the flesh and use the shell to make a pumpkin lantern.

This recipe was passed on to me by Susie & Mike Griffith of Le Perchoir des Paons A favourite recipe at their guest house, I hope it will become a firm favourite at Les Trois Chenes as well.

• 1 kg pumpkin
• 1 medium onion
• 1.5 litres stock
• 50 g butter
• 200 g Parmesan cheese
• Half a small chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely
• Salt and pepper
  

• Melt the butter in a saucepan.
• Slice or chop the onion and sauté until soft.
• Peel and cut the pumpkin into cubes and add to the onion. Fry until soft.
• Grate the parmesan cheese, and add to the pan with the chopped chilli.
  
• When the cheese has melted, add the stock a little at a time.
• Add pepper and salt to taste.

Don't forget to save all the seeds. You can clean and toast them, toss them in a little salt and serve as a nibble, or incorporate into salads for a little extra crunch. If you are able to grow your own pumpkins, you can use these seeds next year.

I love pepper and I roughly crushed about ten peppercorns with a pestle and mortar and added them to my soup. Of course, you can just add ordinary pepper if you prefer.

As a variation on this soup, you can replace the cheese with the rind of two oranges, grated, and the juice of the oranges. In this case, I would add a couple of medium sized potatoes for body.

• Cover the pan and simmer gently for about ten minutes or until the pumpkin is well cooked and soft.
• Then blend or puree until the mixture is smooth.
  

Serve with a swirl of cream or creme fraiche. You can make garlic croutons by toasting bread, rubbing a garlic clove over the toast and then dicing the toast. You could also place the whole slice of garlic toast in the base of the bowl and pour the soup over.

Put plenty of fresh, crusty bread on the table and top with another dusting of pepper. A little coriander or parsley to decorate would look lovely, or if you used oranges, a little pile of shredded peel would look nice and smell lovely. Delicious! Bon appetit!

Save your pumpkin seeds to plant next year, and to make delicious, toasty snacks. Clean and dry the seeds, put onto a baking tray and toss in olive oil and salt to taste. Put into a hot oven and turn until both sides are a golden brown. You can eat the whole seed or crack them open and eat the kernels.

Scary Halloween Treats

This soup is excellent for halloween. Make a lantern or carve shapes into it to decorate the Halloween table. Serve the soup with some of these home made scary Halloween nibblesfor the kids, or try these other Halloween recipes.

At our chambres d'hotes, Limousin, we grow as much of our own food as possible, and each year we plant a variety of pumpkins and squashes. Pumpkins are easy to grow and add a decorative feature to the autumn garden. If you have a little corner in the flower beds, veg plot or even the lawn, then you can buy plants or raise plants from seed and plant out in May when all danger of frost has passed. Pumpkins are greedy feeders, so make sure you put lots of compost into the soil. If you have a compost heap, plant the pumpkins directly into the heap by digging a hole on the top of the heap and filling it with rich, garden soil. The heat from the compost will speed up growth. The pumpkin grows as a long vine, trailing over the ground, and when you have a couple of little pumpkins starting to develope, pinch out the growing tip. For large specimens you should allow the plant to support only one pumpkin. Don't forget to water and don't forget, save the seeds for next year! How to grow pumpkins for Halloween