Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Pumpkin

Pumpkin (or Butternut) Soup with Kefir and Poppy Seeds

You can make this soup with fresh pumpkin, or butternut squash. Kefir is a gut-friendly dairy produce, but you can swirl fresh cream or sour cream through this soup, too. If you’re vegan, you can follow exactly the same recipe, but swap the kefir for some vegan/soy yoghurt instead and be sure to use a vegan-friendly, vegetable stock.

 

Aside from being packed full of fresh veggies, most of the other ingredients you’ll find in the store cupboard – red lentils, stock, a tin of tomatoes or passata and since I had a packet of poppy seeds open from making a Plum and Poppy Seed traybake, I sprinkled some over the finished soup, but the roasted seeds or any other seeds would be nice too.

leftover pumpkin soup with kefir

 

leftover pumpkin soup with kefir
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Pumpkin Soup with Kefir and Poppy Seeds

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 6 servings

Whip up this simple and healthy seasonal pumpkin soup (or use squash) for the perfect autumnal bowl of comfort for lunch or as a light supper. Add a drizzle of kefir for a dose of healthy probiotic and a sprinkle of poppy seeds for a bit of crunch.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 white onions, peeled, halved
  • 700g pumpkin or squash, peeled, de-seeded and chopped into cubes
  • 2 carrots, peeled, chopped
  • 1 stick celery, washed
  • 200g/1 cup red lentils
  • 1 x 400g tin tomatoes or tomato passata
  • 1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
  • Sea salt and black pepper
  • 200ml kefir (cultured milk drink) or use natural yoghurt 
  • 1 tsp poppy seeds per bowl

Instructions

  1. Take a large 24cm pan or stock pot, add the olive oil and heat. Add the onions and fry until slightly softened and golden brown.
  2. Add the pumpkin, carrots and celery, stir well and continue to cook for 5 minutes.  
  3. Add the red lentils, tomatoes/passata and stock to the pan. Ensure everything is covered with stock, if not, add a cupful more of water.
  4. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 20 minutes until all the vegetables are soft (the carrots will take the longest to cook).
  5. Season well with sea salt and black pepper.
  6. Allow the soup to cool a little and then use a stick blender to blend the soup, or transfer into a jug blender (you may need to blend in two batches)
  7. Serve the soup with a drizzle of kefir and sprinkle over some poppy seeds, or other seeds of your choice.

You may like:

Beetroot and Kale Soup with Almond Crumble

Spiced Pumpkin, Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours

Polish Forest Mushroom Soup 

 

Thank you to Jude for the pretty napkins from Anthropolgie which were a book launch gift – I love them. 

Roasted Squash with Tahini and Za’atar from ‘Jerusalem’

There is an abundance of winter squash available at the moment; classic Butternut squash, sweeter Coquina squash, round squash and from the same family, pumpkins, delightful munchkins, marrows and globe courgettes. I like experimenting with different varieties and as soon as I bought these home I knew that I wanted to try a recipe from Yotam Ottoleghi and Sami Tamimi’s new book Jerusalem for roasted squash with tahini and za’atar. There is plenty more for me to explore inside the latest addition to my cookery book shelf and you can find lots of Ottoleghi recipes to try over at The Guardian, too.

Squash

First, the squash is roasted in the oven with olive oil, onions, salt and pepper 

Roasted Squash

 Next, you make a tahini sauce with tahini paste, lemon garlic and salt. Then you sprinkle over some of the Middle Eastern spice za’atar.

I’m missing toasted pine nuts and parsley!  

Roasted Squash Tahini Za'atar 

I hope I’m in time to link this post up to the October One Ingredient Challenge co-hosted by Nazima at her new blog Franglais Kitchen and Laura at How to Cook Good Food. By coincidence, Nazima made this dish, too, adding grilled halloumi and polenta.

Nazima will also be rounding up October’s Simple and in Season event and in a couple of days, Simple and in Season will be back home at Fabulicious Food! for November –  I hope you’ll join in!