For those wet and windy Halloween days: Roasted Pumpkin Soup

I have made pumpkin soup before, but that was the usual "throw it all in a pot and boil" soup (which is still yummy), but I recently heard on the radio that roasted pumpkin is lovely too so decided to have a look for roasted pumpkin soup recipes online. I found this recipe on www.bestrecipes.com.au and it seemed to work a treat. Apart from the pumpkin, all the other ingredients are those you would have lying around, so it's a good way to use up some veg as well. The recipe called for the pumpkin to be peeled, seeded and cubed but I wanted to keep the outside for carving so I just used an ice-cream scoop to take out the pulp.

Ingredients:

750g pumpkin

2 Carrots (coarsely chopped)

2 Onions (coarsely chopped)

2 Cloves Garlic (peeled)

1 Large Potato (diced)

1 Litre Water

2/3 Chicken Stock Cube (to create 1L of stock so depending on size of cubes)

1 Cup Cream

1 tsp Ground Nutmeg

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200°C
• Place pumpkin, carrot, onion and garlic in a baking dish.
• Drizzle with Olive Oil, season and bake for 40 minutes or until soft. 
• In a large pot, boil water and add stock cubes. Cook potato in the simmering water until soft. 
• When the roasted veg is cooked, combine all ingredients and mix in a food processor (or handheld mixer)
• Return to a low heat and gently stir in cream, nutmeg, pepper and salt. Heat gently before serving.
• Enjoy