Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Jack-o-Lantern Fries

Ingredients

Before we begin, let’s make sure we’ve got everything we need:

Soup:

• 1 Pumpkin – Sugar / Pie Variety . . . around 1.5kg to 1.8kg
• 1 Large yellow onion – Chopped
• 700ml Vegetable stock
• 400ml Coconut milk
• 1 Garlic bulb
• 1 Tablespoon tomato purée
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1 Pot double cream
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Avocado Oil

Jack-o-Lantern Fries:

• 2 Large sweet potatoes
• Sea salt
• Avocado Oil

Prepare the Pumpkin

Cut the pumpkin in half through the stalk and continue to cut in half until you have 8 equal parts.

Scoop out the seeds with a large spoon and discard (although you can toast to use for garnish if you like).

Get Ready to Roast

Brush the pulp (also called ‘meat’) with avocado oil and season with salt and pepper.

Take a whole garlic bulb and cut the top off the head.   Wrap in foil forming a ‘boat’ and drizzle with avocado oil before lightly seasoning with salt and pepper and sealing the foil package.

Roast the Pumpkin and Garlic

Pour 250ml water into the pot and then add the Cook and Crisp basket.  Fill the basket with the pumpkin / garlic and then close the lid before moving the slider to COMBI-STEAM.

Select ‘Steam Roast’ at a temperature of 200°C and cook for around 15-20 minutes until the garlic is soft and the pumpkin is golden and tender.

Once cooked set aside to cool for a few minutes and empty any residue liquid from the pot.

Note:  I cooked the pumpkin in two separate batches to prevent overcrowding.

Time to Sauté

Select the ‘sauté’ function and add 3 tablespoons avocado oil to the pan.  Once the oil is shimmering add the onion and ½ teaspoon sea salt.  Stir occasionally and cook the onion for around 5 minutes.

Add the Pumpkin

Whilst the onion is cooking take the skin off the pumpkin segments and discard.

Add the pumpkin ‘meat’ to the pan along with the roasted garlic (simply squeeze the whole bulb and the garlic will ooze out).

Next add the vegetable stock, coconut milk and tomato purée and set up the Ninja to pressure cook, on high, for 30 minutes.

Note:  I used the natural release option for the pressure

Blend

Allow the soup time to cool down slightly and then blend until smooth and creamy in texture.

At this point I add 2 tablespoons of honey for a little sweetness . . .

Serve for Halloween

Ladle the soup into individual bowls and then drizzle concentric circles with the cream before using a cocktail stick to draw 8 lines from the centre to the edge of each bowl to create a spiderweb.

Jack-o-Lantern Fries

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 0.5cm thick slices.

Either using a cookie cutter or a small sharp knife cut out the jack-o-lantern shapes before coating in avocado oil and seasoning with sea salt.

Air Fry at a temperature of 180°C for 20 minutes or until tender.