Pumpkin and Red Yam sweet soup with vanilla and thickened cream.

Pumpkin and Red Yam sweet soup with vanilla and thickened cream.


First off, to pick a pumpkin for this soup you need one with a bit of texture. A woody, fibrous pumpkin. Jap and Blues are a good choice. Yams are also known as sweet potatoes. There are many varieties of these from around the world but the red or orange ones work best as it keep with the colour of the pumpkin.

Shopping list: This list will make enough soup for 6 people. You can freeze left overs for a couple or months and/or it will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
• Pumpkin about a kilo
• I large red yam
• Olive oil
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• A ½ teaspoon of sweet paprika
• ½ a teaspoon of cumin
• A teaspoon of ground cinnamon or a couple of cinnamon sticks.
• 1 good sized vanilla bean.
• About a dozen chilli flakes (who measures or counts)
• 500 ml of stock. I use a porcini stock but you can use beef or chicken if you like. Fresh stock is best but if you don’t want the hassle 2 cubes or a couple of teaspoons of powder will be ok.


Preparation:
• Cut the shell away from the pumpkin and then cut it into smallish pieces.
• Peel the yam and slice it into pieces about 10 mil thick.
• Measure out your salt. Pepper, paprika and cumin then put it into a bowl. (leave the cinnamon and chilli flacks to one side for the moment)
• Pre heat oven to 180 – 200 degrees C
• Lightly oil a couple of roasting dishes with the olive oil
• Lay the pumpkin in one of the trays and the yam into the other. You can use one tray but the pieces need to have a little area around them so that they will roast properly.
• Sprinkle the spices over the vegetables (don’t over do it. You can always add more in later but you can’t take it back out …so lightly sprinkle the vegetables only)


Cooking:
• Place the dishes with the pumpkin and the yam in the oven (move the pieces around every 5 – 10 minutes to make sure they don’t stick.
• Cook for around 30 -40 minutes. Check regularly to see if the flesh has gone soft all the way through.
• Once the pumpkin and the yams are soft, turn off the oven. You can leave them in the oven to save space or you can take them out and leave then sit in the dishes whilst you get the stock ready.
• Bring your stock to the boil.
• Add the pumpkin and yams including the oil to the stock.
• Turn the heat down to low.
• Use a blender or mixed to puree the mixture.
• Add the chilli and the cinnamon and stir.
• If the mixture is too dense add a little more water to make sure it runny.
• Cut the vanilla bean down the centre to ensure the seeds can flow out. Peel the edges back to further assist and put the whole been in the mixture.
• Allow to simmer for a further 30 minutes and reduce until the soup is thick like a paste. Taste occasionally and add more spices gradually if more flavour is required to suit your personal taste.
• Remove the Vanilla bean and cinnamon stick (if you used one).

Serving.
Let the soup cool a little. Pour into bowls and swirl a little thickened cream into the soup. (Run the cream down the slowly down the back of a serving spoon to assist in keeping the cream on the surface.) Place a couple of sprigs of parsley in the centre and your ready to enjoy.

I hope you like this recipe: Your feed back will be appreciated.