Pumpkin soup with a green thread of pumpkin seed oil

Steirisches Kürbiskernöl is oil from toasted seeds of the Styrian oil pumpkin. The name is protected in the EU as a geographical indication (PGI). According to the product specification, the oil clings well to salad leaves. Brief warming with a dish is possible, but pan-frying or deep-frying is not; in this soup it is added only in the bowl. This pumpkin soup is our own home version, finished with a drizzle of the oil.

Serves 4 as a starter or for lunch · Preparation: 20 min · Cooking: 35 min

Allow extra time to cool food before storing it.

Equipment

Soup pan with lid, frying pan, stick blender or blender.

Ingredients

• 1000 g butternut or Hokkaido pumpkin, weighed after cleaning (seeds removed; peel butternut too)
• 150 g peeled onion
• 200 g peeled floury potato
• 20 g unsalted butter
• 900 ml vegetable stock
• 100 ml double cream
• 2 g salt
• 0.5 g ground black pepper
• 20 g hulled pumpkin seeds
• 20 ml Styrian pumpkin seed oil

Method

1. Peel the butternut squash (Hokkaido can keep its skin) and cut into 2 cm cubes. Chop the onion and dice the potato.
2. Melt the butter in the soup pan and soften the onion for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the pumpkin, potato and stock, bring to the boil and simmer gently, covered, for 20–25 minutes until everything is soft.
3. Meanwhile toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan for 3–4 minutes until they start to pop. Leave to cool on a plate.
4. Blend the soup until smooth. Stir in the cream, heat until just below boiling and season with salt and pepper.
5. Ladle the soup into bowls. Drizzle about 5 ml pumpkin seed oil over each bowl and scatter with the seeds.

Storage

Let leftovers without oil or seeds cool within 2 hours and refrigerate them covered at 4 °C; eat within 2 days. Reheat them thoroughly no more than once and discard anything left afterwards. Add the oil only after reheating.

Allergens

Milk. Stock may contain celery; the product label gives the relevant information.

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