Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Miso Pumpkin Soup

They say that soups are like a hug for our insides, they warm us on a chill day from the inside out. We have been getting a lot of chill days in London this winter, and they only thing I love more than soup, is pumpkin soup.

This is souper (geddit) easy to make. Try it. If a mug of soup is a hug, this soup has you at the bottom of a naked scrum of sexy rugby boys!

1 large butternut squash
2 medium size sweet potatoes sweet potatoes
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 banana shallots, chopped
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
3 tablespoons white miso
6 cups vegetable stock (I used the Knorr jelly stock cubes made up with hot water)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Finely sliced spring onions, to garnish
Shichimi togarashi (Japanese chilli salt), to garnish

Step 1: Peel the pumpkin and sweet potato and cut into chunks about 5cm square, add the peeled garlic cloves and toss with the oil before dumping the lot in a large baking tray. Bake for 30 mins at 200 degrees celsius, take them out, toss them around and bake for another 10 mins (it is up to you if you decide to do the Hokey Pokey at this point).

Step 2: Sautee the ginger and shallots with a little bit of the vegetable stock (trying to keep the oil content down here!) Add in the roasted vegetables, vegetable stock and miso paste and bring to a gentle simmer. Leave covered for 20 mins until the vegetables are uber soft.

Step 3: Blend in batches and add back into a clean pot. Be careful - blenders and hot soup are never a great idea - I leave mine for 15mins to avoid the volcano effect, if you have an immersion blender, just blend everything together in the existing pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To Serve: ladle into a bowl or mug and scatter with the sliced spring onions and a good sprinkling of the schichimi togarashi. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself at the bottom of that scrum. Enjoy. What you do after you have eaten this is at your own discretion (please send pictures!)

If you are on your liquids phase post-op, or doing a reboot, you could easily add powdered protein to this soup without changing the taste.