
Spiced Pumpkin Soup
​A spicy Halloween soup with a contrasting sweet shallot and black garlic garnish. Accompanied by a stinky, gooey black garlic grilled cheese

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Ingredients
Soup
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600g cubed pumpkin or fresh pumpkin flesh
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1 medium white onion diced
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800ml chicken (or vegetable) stock
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3 cloves garlic minced
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1 tsp grated ginger
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1 red chilli chopped
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1 tsp cumin
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1 tsp coriander
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2 bay leaves
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1 tsp chilli powder
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½ tsp garam masala
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3 tbsp double cream
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Salt and pepper to season
Garnish
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10-12 cloves of original black garlic
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2 shallots cut lengthways
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1 tbsp light brown sugar
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Drizzle of olive oil
Grilled Cheese
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12 slices of crusty white bread
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75g grated mozzarella
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75g crumbled blue cheese
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8 cloves of original black garlic sliced
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Butter for spreading
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Mayo for spreading
PREP TIME - 1 HR
DIFFICULTY - INTERMEDIATE
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Preheat your oven to 180c. Put the pumpkin and onion in a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil, season and roast for 25-30 mins in the oven.
In a large oiled saucepan, fry the ginger, chilli and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the spices and bay leaves and stir for 30 seconds. Then add in your roasted pumpkin and onion, stir, season, then add the stock. Simmer on low for around 15 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves and puree with a hand mixer until smooth. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. Continue to simmer on a very low heat whilst preparing the garnish.
Spread the shallots out on a lined baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and then scatter over the sugar. Place in the oven on 180c for around 20 mins or until crispy.
Heat a large non stick frying pan, but don’t add any oil. Butter both sides of the bread. 2 slices at a time, pan fry until golden brown. Whilst the first side is cooking, spread some mayo on the two upwards facing sides. Flip. Sprinkle in equal parts of both cheeses and some slices of black garlic onto one of the slices. Flip the other slice on top to form the sandwich then gently press down and cook for a couple of minutes each side or until the cheese is completely melted.
Take the soup off the heat, add the cream and stir. Transfer the soup to a bowl or hollowed out pumpkin then garnish with the shallots and whole cloves of black garlic. Finish with a drizzle of cream.