Harvest Moon Soup

This soup is super easy and very satisfying.  The key is the cute presentation – here ladled into a hollowed out pumpkin and garnished with a dollop of sour cream and some dill.

2 pounds zucchini, cubed
1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Place Courgette/ zucchini and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil – reduce heat to medium and simmer until zucchini is very tender.

Pour into a large bowl, and when cooled to workable temperature  blend to  puree soup until almost smooth. Return soup to saucepan and add remaining ingredients. Stir over medium heat until warm.

PS    I take no credit for either the recipe of the lovely photograph as This recipe came from here:

http://leberpr.com/blog/?p=494

Roast Turks Turban Pumpkin Soup

This is an easy and adaptable soup that can be made with most squash or pumpkins.

* Roughly chop a medium size squash (about1kilo should be OK for 4) cut into large cubes or wedges      whichever is convenient.

* Put in a lightly oiled roasting tin with some crushed garlic cloves (4-5) and season well with salt and pepper. (There is no need to skin either of them at this stage).

You can flavour the cooking oil with coriander, or use a ready-flavoured oil like chilli, or walnut. Be sparing with these oils as they could easily over power the squashes own flavour.

* Place them into a preheated oven at 190/ gas 5 for about ½ hour or until tender and coloured.

* Cool sufficiently so you can scrape the flesh from the skin.

* Pop the flesh of the garlic out of its skin and place the squash and garlic together in a blender.
* Add either 1 litre of vegetable stock, or chicken stock, or stock and milk. You are aiming for a thick creamy consistency.

* Blitz till smooth - you may have to do this in batches depending on the capacity of your blender.

* Return to a saucepan and heat gently, taste and season. The soup should be a creamy consistency.

* I personally like small chunks of veg in my soup, so you could keep back some of the squash or maybe add some pre- cooked courgettes, or parsnips cut into small pieces to add when returning soup to the pan from the blender.

* Add flavourings like;-
Grated nutmeg - good with butternut squash,
Swirl of soured cream

Lightly fried garlic slivers

Good flavours to add to stock are rosemary or thyme (remove before liquidising).
Taste for seasoning and add more stock if it's too thick. You're aiming for a fairly thick and creamy consistency. Return to the pan and heat gently, don't let it boil.

Serve with some chunks of fresh bread - poppy seed is fabulous, or try ciabatta or crusty wholemeal bread.

ENJOY