Pumpkin soup

Soup is wonderful. A bowl full of soup on a winter’s day is a fantastic way to have a tasty meal and provide yourself with a bit of warming comfort food.

While it isn’t winter here by any stretch of the imagination, I had a pumpkin in the refrigerator (butternut pumpkin or butternut squash for those who have different names for these things) and there is no soup that I love more than pumpkin soup.

Normally I eat my pumpkin soup with a generous dollop of Greek yoghurt in the middle but the last time I made it I opened the refrigerator and it was gone! Horror! My daughter had eaten the last of the yoghurt in one of her midnight refrigerator raids (dagger eyes her way) so it was necessary to make another plan. I was somewhat at a loss but after staring at the refrigerator contents for a good long while I decided to try chopped and fried bacon. Not bad. So that is what you see in the photograph here.
I will still reach straight for the yoghurt next time but the bacon idea was pretty darn good as an alternative.

Pumpkin Soup

1 butternut pumpkin, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 Tbls butter
Water
Dehydrated vegetable stock
Salt & Pepper

Melt the butter in a large pot.
Add onion and cook until transparent.
Add pumpkin and cook, stirring, for 5 mins.
Cover with water and boil until pumpkin is soft.
Add vegetable stock to taste (2-3 teaspoons)
Blend the soup in the pot with a stab blender.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a generous dollop of Greek yoghurt, chopped and fried bacon or whatever your personal favourite additive is.

Leftover inspired Soup

Chinese Pork, the day after…
So what do you do when you have a good chunk of Chinese Pork leftover in the fridge? Of course you make an Asian inspired soup from it and anything else you have lying around that seems to fit.

So, as this was completely made up as I went along there is no real recipe to share. However I will do my best to remember what I did.

I had two chicken carcasses, with stuffing intact from shop bought BBQ chickens in the freezer, so those went into a big pot of water. After boiling for a good long time I strained all the solids out of the broth and put the broth back on the stove.

A packet of dried Chinese mushrooms was lurking in a box at the top of the pantry so they went in also. A good bunch of silver beet from the garden was washed, chopped roughly and added. The Chinese roast pork was sliced thinly and added also.

Once the mushrooms were tender I added a block of frozen udon noodles to the pot and tasted the results. A blob of oyster sauce, a splash of fish sauce and things seemed to taste just right.

Served up in a nice deep bowl with all the utensils needed (I use a fork and a spoon, I am hopeless at chop sticks) plonked on the couch with an episode of Bizarre Foods to entertain me while I ate. Best leftovers ever!