Autumnal Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Bacon
Feeds 5 - 7
It's officially spooky season, which means i've got to serve up something that fits the theme right?? I'm bringing you my easy-as-soup pumpkin soup recipe. Something I try to do with most of my cooking (I say most because I love to be a bit #extra sometimes) is make it as simple as possible. I have a lot of days where I don't want to be labouring over every detail of a meal or scared it's gonna get f***ed up by one tiny mistake. Soup is almost idiot-proof because it's all getting blended anyway, so you can mask most mistakes with the blender.
This is such a comforting dish, it's perfect when the weather's turning miserable, the heating's going on, and the fluffy socks and sweatpants are on full display. So go sit in front of the tv with a candle flickering, a cheesy movie, a big spoon, and a massive bowl of pumpkin soup to mend the approaching winter-blues.
Yes it is a little naughty to put bacon in there, but bacon and pumpkin taste so good together, and really, it's only a couple of rashers, so we aren't being that bad.
PRO TIPS
Vegans and Vegetarians: Pretty simple how to change this dish, just remove the bacon and yoghurt. Replace it with homemade croutons or toasted seeds (which I do all the time anyway so obviously it's good).
For a bit of a silkier texture you could replace the oil with butter when cooking the onions, but I try to keep my butter to a minimum where possible 😂
You could garnish this with chives as well if you don't have any basil, it will be just as delicious.
Why not make this soup into soup shooters? You could serve them in between an appetiser and a main. Or as a light appetiser.
If you like some bits that haven't been blended chilling out in your bowl then just set some of the soup mixture aside before blending it then add it in after.
Recipe
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 unsmoked bacon rashers
1 white onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
4 cups of roughly chopped pumpkin
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 cups of vegetables stock
2 tablespoons of greek yoghurt (for garnish)
Handful of basil leaves (for garnish)
Method
Place 2 of the bacon rashers in a medium-high heated deep pan. Cook them for approximately 3 minutes each side and then remove from the pan. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Add the chopped onion to the pan and sauté for 5 - 7 minutes, until opaque. Meanwhile, quickly chop the bacon ready to go back in the pan.
Slightly squish down your whole garlic cloves with the back of your knife. Add the garlic into the pan once the onion is opaque. Sauté for a couple more minutes. Then put the bacon, pumpkin, carrot, and stock into the pan. Bring to the boil then reduce temperature and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the carrot and pumpkin are soft.
Remove the pan from the heat. Transfer half the mixture to a blender at a time (half because you don't want to fill past 3/4 of the way up your blender). Blend the mixture together until it is nice and smooth. If you prefer your soup to be thick then put only the vegetables in and slowly add the liquid in until you have reached your desired consistency.
Lastly, fry up the other two bacon rashers until super crisp. Drain them on a paper towel. Chop them up and sprinkle on top. Serve with greek yoghurt and basil.
Enjoy!
Stay Salty,
Romy xx