Last week in Gardening Club, Mrs Sommers shared her pumpkin surprise. If you remember, Mrs v.C. and Mrs Sommers split our Gardening Club grown pumpkin in half. Two weeks ago we enjoyed Pumpkin Pie (recipe to follow). Last week Mrs Sommers made slightly spiced Pumpkin Soup. Once again, the school grown veggies got the thumbs up!

The King's Pumpkin Soup
(Recipe from Mrs Sommers' mother-in-law)
Ingredients:
1 kg pumpkin
4 and a half cups of chicken stock (approximately 1 litre)
1 onion (roughly chopped)
6 spring onions (chopped)
4 tomatoes (or 1 tin of tomatoes)
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300 ml cream (or milk)*
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (approximately 1/2 a lemon)
1 teaspoon curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
Method:

• Simmer the first 5 ingredients until the vegetables are tender.

• Blend with a stick blender (or push through a sieve).

• Return to pot.

• Add cream or milk*, lemon juice, curry powder, seasoning. Mix well.

• Reheat but do not boil.

*Alternatively, omit the cream/milk and add a swirl of plain yoghurt just before serving.

American Pumpkin Pie(recipe from 'Pumpkin Butternut & Squash' 30 sweet and savoury recipes by Elsa Petersen-Schepelern)
Ingredients: 
2 ready-made pastry cases, 20cm diameter, or 500g ready-made shortcrust pastry
2 pie dishes or loose-based tart tins, 20mm diameter, greased, 
baking paper, 
dried beans or rice for 'blind' baking
3 eggs
500ml cooked pureed pumpkin*
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (or ground nutmeg)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
375ml (1 tin) evaporated milk
Method:

• Roll out pastry to 5mm thick. Line dishes with pastry. Line pastry with baking paper and dried beans or rice. Bake in a preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 12-15 minutes. Remove baking paper and beans/rice and cook for another 5 minutes.

• Put the rest of the ingredients in a deep bowl and beat with an electric beater at high speed for 5 minutes.

• Pour into the pastry cases, then cook in the middle of a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 1 hour.

• Cool slightly, then serve warm with cream, ice-cream or vanilla yoghurt.

* bake rather than boil the pumpkin and allow to drain in a sieve so it's not too watery