As per a request, made yesterday, for more recipes which make use of autumn’s most popular fruit, today’s post brings you yet another soup. Truly, I couldn’t help myself, since the pumpkin and sage bread posted yesterday goes perfectly with this dish. We ate them together and they made for a positively delectable lunch. That is not to say that Frugal wasn’t a little tentative before tucking into this gourmet meal; the light repast was to be my first taste of pumpkin. This needn’t have been the case since it was one of the best soups I’d ever indulged in, though the flavour was a little surprising. It was sweet, as one might expect, but tasted rather like carrot soup, only with a slight aftertaste of pumpkin.

So, this is pumpkin recipe number two for FrugalFeeding, though I hope it hasn’t quite satiated everyone’s appetite for the most autumnal of fruits. You have my word that there shall appear one more recipe which makes use of our orange friend over the coming days. For now, I wish to say a few words regarding the ‘tips’ section of FrugalFeeding. As you can see it is ‘under construction’, which basically means it is in the process of being re-written. This is being embarked upon because it has been brought to my attention that some of my claims, tips and suggestions are rather badly put and in many cases wrong. When it returns the section shall be thoroughly correct and may even include a picture or two – fancy!

Pumpkin Soup

Serves 5-6

Ingredients:

• 600g pumpkin

• 25g butter

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 700ml vegetable stock or bouillon

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped

• Oil

• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Fry the onions in a little oil until soft, add the pumpkin and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the stock, bay leaves and sage and simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Remove the bay leaves once the pumpkin is tender. Blend the entire soup in a food processor until smooth. Return the blended soup to the saucepan and season to taste. Serve with my recently posted pumpkin and sage loaf.

Cost: As you might imagine, this soup is incredibly cheap. The amount of pumpkin used in this recipe cost a mere 25p! This means that the entire soup, which at a push will feed 6 people, set us back 55p. This price doesn’t include the bread, but that is even cheaper. To be quite honest, I’m impressed with myself this time.