Roasted Pumpkin, Apple Creamy soup

In Autumn, pumpkin is found in abundance in Belgium.  Many grow them in their back yards and then advertise to sell them on their gates.  Sometimes you get them as cheap as 2 euros for a whole pumpkin which weighs about 4 kilos.  Most homes would be brewing pumpkin soups in the evening to keep warm.  

This was the first year I too tried to make some pumpkin soup after getting advise from my dear colleague, Rita, on how to make it.  She said mostly you put the pumpkin with some onions in a pot, steam it, purée it and then season.  I tried it and found it to be quite flavourful.  And then I started looking and trying other pumpkin soup recipes...pumpkin with red capsicum, pumpkin with coconut and now my latest find...pumpkin with apple soup. This recipe I found in one of the papers of my mom which dates back to 1975 - that is even before I was born.  So am quite excited to try it out.  The other pumpkin soups will also come up on the blog when they are documented.

This soup has a slight sourness to it because of the apples.  

Preparation Time:  20 mins

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin, peeled and diced

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 onion, diced

1 tbsp oregano

1 green apple, peeled and coarsely diced

1 cup vegetable stock

1 ¼ cup water

Salt & pepper to taste

Crackers and fresh cream for garnish

Method:

Melt butter in a thick bottomed saucepan.  Add the pumpkin and sauté until the edges of the pumpkin turn light brown.  Remove from heat and allow it to cool.  In another saucepan, melt the remaining butter, add onion and sauté for three minutes or until translucent.  Add the pumpkin, apple, oregano, stock and water.  Boil and cook until the apple and pumpkin are soft.  Remove from heat.  Purée when cool in a blender until smooth.  Reheat and then add salt and pepper.  Pour into soup bowls and garnish with fresh cream.  Serve hot with crackers. 

Tip:  When I have no stock, I use a couple of Maggie cubes, dissolve them in hot water and use those.  But then reduce the salt in the food as the cube contains it already.