Pumpkins Soup & Cats......

With Halloween and pumpkins everywhere I thought I’d share with you our attempt and also a lovely soup to make from the scraping out the pumpkin!

Out stencil which we found on ehow.com. We pinned it to the pumpkin cutting out the cat completely and just scraping the skin out for the moon to glow.......

Try out this pumkpin soup (James Martins) - great for keeping you warm while the fireworks go off or you have a night time picnic! - I tend to leave out the seeds but I think thats more a personal taste. Go with what you like!

Ingredients

·         1 small pumpkin, (about 1 kg)

·         1 white onion, roughly chopped

·         2 cloves garlic

·         2 sprigs rosemary

·         2 tbsp clear honey

·         3 tbsp virgin olive oil

·         500 ml chicken stock

·         1 glasses dry white wine

·         150 ml double cream

·         1 lemon, juice only

To serve

·         double cream, whipped

·         sprigs chervil

·         olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7.

2. Peel the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. Dice the flesh into large cubes and put in a roasting tray. Scatter around the chopped onion and garlic and tuck in the rosemary sprigs.

3. Drizzle over the honey and olive oil and roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender and golden. Baste half way through to stop the honey catching on the bottom of the tray.

4. Meanwhile bring the stock to the boil. When the vegetables are cooked, put in a blender with the hot liquid and white wine. Blend until smooth before adding the cream and lemon juice.

5. Return to the pan and season with salt and pepper.

6. To serve: ladle the soup into bowls and put a spoonful of whipped double cream in the middle of each bowl, topped with a sprig of chervil. Drizzle in a circle of olive oil and double cream if desired.