(Yet) another recipe for pumpkin soup?

The Country Frog popped up to town recently so I had a few friends over for lunch - a spontaneous tossing together of things that came up quite well with a garden salad dressed with Persian-style fetta, eggplant chutney, and Australian smoked salmon finished off with a squeeze of fresh lime.

The conversation turned to food, of course, specifically favourite soups, and we unanimously concluded that pumpkin soup ticked the boxes. One, because it is particularly easy to make. Two, because almost everybody loves it. And, three, for all of us, pumpkin soup is associated with memories of our first ‘grown-up’ dinner parties in flats or share houses of our youth. Back in those days, however, pumpkin soup was quite a different creature, made by sautéing onion in lashings of butter, finished with far too much fresh cream and, as some of us remember, the recipe involved chicken stock cubes which were full of salt and MSG. We have moved on… Our dietary and taste preferences can no longer accommodate so much saturated fat in a single bowl of soup. The stock, by preference, is home-made. The onion is lightly fried in olive oil. The pumpkins, too, are different nowadays with hybrid varieties that are smaller and easier to cut than the big old monsters we used to know.

This is a self-sown vine that came up in the shrubbery where I spread compost-bin mulch last year. It has crept, triffid-like, out into the full sun on the lawn. I don’t know what type it is but we’re calling it a Jap (which stands for Just Another Pumpkin), and the pumpkins should be ready by mid-winter. It generally takes 5 or 6 months from planting to picking - which is a long time for a lawn-lover to put up an unmown patch, though there is something quite calming about watching the big yellow flowers open, then set, and week by week to see the tiny pumpkins grow into the real things.

So, perhaps the world does not think it needs another recipe for pumpkin soup, but this Ten-Minute Roast Pumpkin version is a family hit and it will be doubly satisfying to make it from my own crop. The sugars in the onion and pumpkin are caramelised by pan-frying, which enriches the flavours so we don’t need to do the butter-and-cream thing or use stock to make the soup tasty.

ROAST PUMPKIN SOUP


Time: 10 minutes cooking.
Preparation time:  depends on pumpkin-peeling skills. However, to save time, dice onion first then prepare pumpkin while onion is cooking. De-seed pumpkin by scraping out with side of a sturdy spoon rather than the flat blade of a knife.
Serves 4 with bread as a satisfying lunch, especially with a bowl of finger-food salad on the table.

You will need: Large saucepan or deep frypan with lid; cutting board, large knife, dessert spoon for seeding pumpkin; blender or stick-mixer.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
½ Jap or Kent or Jarrahdale, or whole butternut or sunrise; cut and peeled (about 1kg)
1 large scrubbed potato, unpeeled and diced (about 1 cup)
olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Begin to pan fry onion in 40 ml olive oil (a good big slurp).
2. Peel and de-seed pumpkin.
3. When onion is soft and turning golden brown, push to one side of pan. Pack in the pumpkin, standing on edge, flat side to the pan (no need to add more oil).
3. Place diced potato on top of pumpkin pieces (this will start the potato steaming) and cover with lid. Cook on moderate heat until under side of pumpkin is browning (about 5 minutes).
4. Add 2 cups water; cook further few minutes until vegetables are soft.
5. Blitz in blender or in the pot with stick-mixer. Taste; add salt (start with scant ¼ teaspoon) and freshly ground black pepper. Serve and enjoy.

Whatever did we do before stick-mixers?

This is quite a dark soup. Add cream if desired but it may make it look like a mud puddle. Instead, use some grated hard cheese such as Parmesan or Romero, and a sprinkle of chopped herbs.


Now, because I have some time and space, I am including a more traditional method for a good pumpkin soup using chicken stock. The recipe is a modified version of Crème de Poitron I found in a 1947 French cookbook that belonged to my mother.

BASIC BOILED PUMPKIN SOUP (with CREAM)

In a large saucepan combine 2 cups good-quality stock, 1 kg diced pumpkin, large diced onion, 1- 2 diced potatoes, salt and pepper, and 1 rounded teaspoon butter. Add water if needed to just cover vegetables. Boil until soft. Puree. Then serve with a dollop of light sour cream stirred into each bowl (the original recipe asks for buttery fresh cream, and the stock must be freshly made).

FRESH HOME-MADE CHICKEN STOCK

In a wide saucepan or deep fry pan lightly fry together 1 diced onion, whole peeled garlic clove, and the skin, fat, wing tips and any bones trimmed from fresh chicken that would otherwise go in the bin.

When golden and glistening, add 1 cup water, grind of pepper, a bay leaf &/or sprig of rosemary, if you have them. Simmer 10 minutes, then lift out the chicken with a slotted spoon and discard. Pour the stock into small heat-proof bowl. Cool on bench before refrigerating. A layer of chicken fat with rise to the top of the stock, and when cold will solidify into a soft white sheet that can be easily peeled from the jellied stock. Label and freeze in small stackable containers. (The flavour of ‘real’ stock is so much better than anything that comes in a packet or box. It does not intrude on other flavours in a dish but enhances subtly.)

FROGBLOG RANT: Here at frogblog headquarters, we do not like THOUGHTLESS waste. Life is too busy to be wasting time; resources are too finite to waste gas, power and water; arable land is too limited for the casual food wastage of western living; and health too precious for wasting ourselves on junk. During the life of Town and Country Frog Blog, versions of this mantra will reappear from time to time, from post to post, like jangling notes in a piece of music. We are not fundamental about this - we do have appliance-rich lives, make the most of the petrol-driven engine, and enjoy the benefits of a good hot-water system. But we do object to thoughtlessness - the taking for granted of human effort and other energy that provide our privileges. We object to filling the wheelie bin with single-use plastic food containers and to throwing away chicken scraps, then writing ‘Chicken Stock’ on the grocery list.

And we not very fond of canned soup either.

FRESH TOMATO SOUP (1)

(Serves 4)

A vitamin-rich meal-in-a-bowl, thickened naturally by the starch in the potato.

Boil together for 15 minutes 2 cups home-made chicken stock, 1 cup water (or 1 cup stock and 2 cups water), 2 cups diced ripe tomato, 2 diced scrubbed unpeeled potatoes and a sprig of rosemary. Remove rosemary. Mash or puree. Add salt and pepper to taste.

FRESH TOMATO SOUP 2 (VEGETARIAN VERSION)

In large saucepan, lightly fry 1 diced onion and some garlic in a little olive oil. Add 2-3 cups diced ripe tomato and cook until mushy. Add 2 diced scrubbed potatoes, sprig of rosemary and 2 cups water, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 10 minutes. Remove rosemary. Mash or puree. So easy! So healthy.

FROGBLOG TIP: For soup and stews, buy cheap overripe or brushed/blemished tomatoes when on special or marked down. Put them whole or diced into the freezer and use when needed, adding to the pot without necessarily thawing them first. After freezing, the fresh tomatoes have a taste and texture similar to canned tomatoes.

Next: A WALK AROUND THE GARDEN to look at ROSEMARY.

Coming up: A couple of delicious one-pot meals; easy-to-make bacon stock; and a look at growing old-fashioned garden mint.

Written and compiled by two frogs

Soup soup soup glorious soup soup soup

This hearty, chunky-style vegetable soup will satisfy even the biggest appetite. It’s the sort of soup to make on Friday before a week-end when the family will be coming and going, with everyone running to their own private timetable - but still expecting to be fed!

You can call it minestrone if you want, but in our family dictionary that is just a fancy word for a pretty basic soup. Of minestrone, food writer the great late MFK Fisher says, 'it is a thick unsophisticated soup, heart-warming and soul-satisfying, full of aromatic vegetables' for 'those who are tired or worried or cross or in debt or in a moderate amount of pain or in love or in robust health or …' Leave it in the pot throughout the weekend and reheat to boiling at meal times (as long as it re-boils it won’t need to go in the refrigerator). With each reheat, add a little more water, a handful of pasta or more vegetables, a bit of left-over this or that. The pot will seem bottomless and the soup will keep on evolving and improving.

BASIC HEARTY FARM-STYLE VEGETABLE SOUP (or MINESTRONE)

You will need a selection of vegetables and herbs in season. The recipe is only a guide but onion is the one non-negotiable essential item. However, to earn the title of “Hearty” I am sure there should be a minimum standard - I don’t think I would vote for a brew that has less than six vegetables, and some foodies certainly demand beans in minestrone.

Quick and easy

For 6 - 10 big serves. Left-overs can be frozen.

This recipe is a vegetarian version but, if you wish, definitely add a good big handful of diced bacon, salami, leftover roast meat or fresh raw chicken. I sometimes throw half a dozen chicken wings into the pot or a few pieces of veal shank (the osso bucco cut).

Ingredients:
2 large onions
2 large carrots
2 - 4 sticks celery, with leaves
1 large red or green capsicum/bell pepper
2 large potatoes, scrubbed
1 - 2 cups green veg (peas, chopped beans, shredded silverbeet including all the silver bits)
½ teaspoon salt to start; freshly ground pepper
selection of fresh or dry herbs

1. Cut all vegetables into same-size bits - cubes of about 1 cm.
2. In large saucepan, fry onion with a few tablespoons olive oil until beginning to colour.
3. Add everything else; cover with water; bring to boil. Simmer until cooked, roughly 30 minutes but an hour is better.

Other things to use:

• Swede or turnip or parsnip; cauliflower or broccoli; sliced Brussels sprouts are very very good, or diced cabbage; pumpkin, squash, zucchini…
• Garlic, chilli, olives.

Then you will need at least ½ - 1 cup dry brown or green lentils, or 1 cup soaked chickpeas, or some pre-cooked red beans (canned kidney beans or 3 bean mix are fine).

Fresh or dry bay leaves and sprigs of fresh rosemary are almost as essential as onion; and try some thyme, parsley, basil, chives... but don’t use mint and be sparing with coriander.

If using dry herbs, avoid Gran’s Aussie stand-by - those packet Mixed Herbs - or the soup will taste like chicken stuffing. Start with a pinch or two of whatever you have and add more after the first taste test.

*   *   *

FROGBLOG TIP: If using dry chickpeas, soak beforehand for 6 hours (see chickpeas). They will then take 30-40 minutes to cook in with the vegetables. With lentils, you will need to add 1 - 2 cups more water during the cooking.

Taste the emerging soup after 30 minutes; add more salt, chilli, pepper and herbs if needed.
Stir in ½ cup dry pasta ten minutes before serving or when reheating (and more water).
Add canned tomato, or jar of mild Mexican salsa or tomato-based pasta sauce. Or fresh tomatoes.
Most of all, have fun creating your soup and enjoy the outcome.

This is my soup next day, 're-invented' with 1 cup dry elbow pasta, a can of good-quality Australian crushed tomato plus extra can of water, and a new dose of fresh parsley and fennel tops.

COUNTRY FROG RANT: There is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED or reason to add ready-made store-bought stock to a hearty-style soup. In the process of cooking the soup you are making your own beautiful stock. Any recipe that tells you to add extra is unthinkingly wasting your money or has been devised by a 'TV' cook/chef who is sponsored by the company which makes the stock.


Next: One of Town Frog’s 'urban' soups - something more 21st century than the ancient Mediterranean Minestrone.
Written and compiled by two frogs.

Frogs and ponds in a town garden...

So as not to be outshone by my country friend, I’d like to share my experiences with frogs and ponds up here in town.
It all started with a sandpit shell that my children had outgrown. We scraped a bit of a hollow under the trees in a corner near the compost heap and put the half shell into it.

The idea initially was just to have a few goldfish, so we filled it with town water and let the chlorine evaporate and put in a few small pots of water weeds. Then, before we had organised ourselves to get the fish, we began to hear the distinctive tock-tock call of Striped Marsh Frogs. The thrill of having frogs changed our pond plans, and instead of goldfish, which will eat frog eggs and small tadpoles, we added four tiny White Clouds to keep the mossie larvae at bay.

We gradually planted a border of water iris and creeping iris around and in the pond, and ever since have taken great delight in our town-garden frog spot.

The sandpit-pond holds about 60 litres of water, and only needs the leaf-litter from overhead trees to be scooped out about once a year. (I use an old badminton racquet to do the job.) Otherwise, we seem to have achieved a balance of small fish, frogs, and plants that keeps the pond water relatively clear and teaming with tadpoles. As the young frogs develop legs and move to land, they have plenty of thick damp shrubbery in which to hide from butcherbirds and kookaburras, and from wandering urban cats.

Our own cats are kept indoors most of the time, and the dogs - a pair of beautiful Australian Shepherds - are not the least bit interested in hunting for frogs.

But I did still want some goldfish. When I saw a lovely glazed pot in a garden shop, the “must buy that” part of my brain kicked in. I set the pot-pond up in a spot where it receives filtered sunlight for several hours of the day and where I can watch the fish from the kitchen window. The balance of healthy plants to the ratio of water volume and number of goldfish means that the water stays clear and clean with very little attention.

 

So, I am happy; frogs are happy; goldfish are happy too. But somehow, that one glazed pot seems to have bred. I now have a courtyard full of water-garden pots, each with its own successful micro-habitat.

Next: a bowl of soup by the pond.



Written and compiled by two frogs.