For Manda:

Spiced Pumpkin Ginger Soup (a pumpkin name Fitz not necessarily required)

Ingredients:
-a good "knob" of butter
-1 small leek, roughly chopped
-1 small onion, roughly chopped
-30 g ginger root, finely chopped*
-1 tsp cumin seeds
-1 small chili, chopped
-a few sprigs of thyme
-1 kg ripe pumpkin (or butternut squash)
-1.5 litres vegetable stock
-salt and pepper to taste
-2 tsp pumpkin seeds, lightly salted and toasted

Directions:
1. gently cook the leek, onion, ginger, cumin seeds, chili and thyme in the butter in a large saucepan until soft.

2. add the pumpkin and vegetable stock, bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper, then simmer for 20 minutes.

3. blend in a liquidiser until smooth (I used a hand blender directly in the pot, and left a few bits and pieces in) then drain through a fine mesh sieve (I did not do this part).

4. Reheat the soup and adjust the consistency with a little vegetable stock or water if necessary and re-season with salt and pepper.

5. Sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds and enjoy!


*(sorry for the metric measurements, its how the recipe came)

[also Happy Birthday to Jen!]