Happy birthday Jackie !

Jackie's pumpking soup

This week has  been once  again  full of activate . First off, we had the olives to pick . Two days of intensive  labor . Thanks to our friends and family we managed to pick a bumper crop ( 450 kg ), which we hope when crushed will give us about 55 liters of Extra virgin olive oil . Thanks to the good weather  and most of all  the hard work put in by everyone ,we should be dripping in oil for a year. 

Then on Monday morning , with two cars sagging under the weight of  olives ,I left home first to drop the olives off to be crushed and then from there headed to Rome for the second lesson in my cooking course. Fantastic , I like to be busy . 

When I arrived home today , I wanted to cook something quick and easy ,but also very  tasty and seasonal. Seeing how Monday was Halloween , I thought let’s do a pumpkin soup ! 

 When Nick’s mum Jackie was over last month she made a beautiful soup which we made with the first pumpkins of the season. Plus , because Halloween was Jackie’s birthday it felt like the right moment to try it again. 

At this point I would just like to say a big , big thank you to Jackie for all the help she has put into my blog and a very happy birthday ! 

So , try the soup I think you’ll enjoy it even if Halloween is over ! 

Serve 4-6 

15 ml sunflower oil 

25gr butter 

1 large onion 

675gr pumpkin, cut in to large chunks 

450 gr potatoes, sliced 

600 ml vegetable stock 

A good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg 

600 ml milk 

5 ml lemon juice 

Salt and fresh ground black pepper 

Hand full of chopped chives 

How it works: Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan and fry butter onion for 4/5 minutes over a gentle heat till soft (not burn) stirring often. Add pumpkin  and sliced potatoes, stir well , cover and cook over a low heat for  about 10 minutes until the vegetable are almost tender, stir occasionally . Add the stock, nutmeg and seasoning, simmer for about another 15 mins . 

Allow to cool slightly and blend until smooth. Pour back into in to the pan and add milk . Heat gently  ( do not boil ) , add lemon juice and  chives.