Pumpkin Soup with Apple and Ginger

This Hokkaido pumpkin soup is cosy and comforting on a cold night and autumn / winter melancholy is a thing of the past. Adding apples to the soup lends an interesting fruity flavour to the usual pumpkin soup and the slightly spicy chilli note also makes it perfect for warming up on cold days. The soup tastes particularly delicious with butter fried apple slices (deglazed with a little of Calvado if desired) and some homemade bread. Use tart apples like Pink Lady, or Granny Smith or Braeburn for the soup.

1 Onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 Garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
20 g Ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
600 g Hokkaido pumpkin, cut into smaller pieces
2 Apples (I used Pink Lady)
1 sprig Thyme
1 tbsp Olive oil infused with chilli
Sea salt
Freshly milled black pepper
100 ml Unfiltered apple juice (or white wine)
800 ml Chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp Butter
Pumpkin seeds or pine nuts, toasted
1 tbsp Chopped parsley
Pumpkin seed oil, optional

Peel and finely chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Cut the pumpkin into small pieces. Wash the apples and clean, halve, core and chop 1 of them. Wash the thyme and shake dry.
Heat the chillli-infused olive oil in a pan. Sauté the chopped onion, garlic and ginger a couple of minutes until aromatic. Add in pumpkin and apple. Cook for a further 3-5 minutes over medium heat.
Season with salt and pepper, add the thyme and deglaze with the apple juice. Then add the stock and simmer over a low heat for about 30 minutes or until the pumpkins are tender. Remove the thyme and star anise and puree the soup with an immersion blender.
Halve and core the remaining apple and cut into thin slices. Heat the butter in a pan. Sauté the apple slices for 3 minutes over a medium heat. Deglaze with a little Calvados if desired.
Serve the pumpkin soup topped with apple slices and sprinkle with nuts or seeds and parsley. Drizzle some pumpkin seed oil over if using.

13 comments:

Margaret D 26/9/24 12:50: Nice recipe, Angie
Tom 26/9/24 13:16: ...the apple is a sweet addition.
DEZMOND 26/9/24 13:17: Love that little green dish, so gorgeous, stunning colour and gorgeous contrast with the orange soup. I do love me hokky, but will do a squash roast tomorrow with potatoes as I have not baked potatoes in like half a year due to the summer heat.
Carol @Comfort Spring Station 26/9/24 15:39: I love the addition of apple and ginger - 2 of my favorite flavors
thepaintedapron.com 26/9/24 15:45: This sounds perfect! Love the buttery apple slices~
Jenna
Brian's Home Blog 26/9/24 15:49: That looks very festive and yummy!
Bill 26/9/24 18:12: That would be perfect for today. The weather here is rainy and windy, soup would be grand.
Pam 26/9/24 19:09: Comforting and so delicious!
Federica Simoni 26/9/24 20:14: wow sembra buonissimo!
foodtravelandwine 26/9/24 20:35: I love to add fruit to the pumpkin soup!....It sounds delicious with apples!....I tried begore with pears!....Definitely autumn is here!.....Abrazotes, Marcela
citu 26/9/24 22:21: Me gusta la calabaza. Te mando un beso y gracias por la receta.
Cooking Julia 26/9/24 23:43: This soup must be so good and comforting, I like the various flavors you combined in it.
Lowcarb team member 27/9/24 00:20: What a lovely looking soup ... perfect for cooler Autumn days.

All the best Jan