Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

A recipe inspired by an epic pumpkin fail

I've been searching for a nice savoury recipe for the Bake With Bree blog for ages now, something to counteract all the sugar and chocolate. I thought my Pumpkin and Lentil soup would be just the ticket. Perfect for this time of year, it also fitted in nicely with the third book in the Bree trilogy, Bree McCready and the Realm of the Lost. 

An epic front cover by Lawrence Mann, complete with pumpkin Jack 'O Lanterns

However, after months of planning, nurturing and anticipation, the juicy homegrown pumpkin which I was going to use for my Autumn recipes ended in absolute failure...as you can see in the 'pimple' picture above. You can read all about it in 'Pumpkin Fail and a Nice Day Out' over on my Words With Hazel blog.

Anyhoo...

Not one for giving up easily I decided to replace the 800g of fresh pumpkin required for my recipe with two 400g of pureed pumpkin. 

Good quality

The results were just as tasty. A delicious, hearty Autumn soup which will stick to your ribs and warm your cockles.

Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients 

Coconut oil

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

2 tins of Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin (or 800g of fresh)

A few sprigs of fresh Thyme

600ml of stock

1 can of coconut milk

60g of red lentils

The juice of 1 and a half limes 

2 tablespoons of runny honey

2 Oxo Cubes

Salt & pepper

To decorate I used Creme Fraiche and pumpkin seeds. 

Chop the onion.

Peel and crush four cloves of garlic. No kissing for a couple of days after this :)

Prepare the leaves from a few sprigs of thyme.

Weigh out 60g of red lentils.

Open the tins of pumpkin and coconut milk.

In a large saucepan heat a tablespoon of coconut oil.

An ingredient I couldn't live without

Squeeze in the juice of one and a half limes and stir again.

Cook for a further 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool for a little while.

 If you like a soup you can stand your spoon up in you won't need to add the milk but I prefer my soup a little thinner and adding milk also helps to stretch things out if you're on a budget. You can judge this for yourself.

Time to cut some crusty bread

 And serve.

Add a dollop of Creme Fraiche or natural yoghurt and a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds

There's something so perfect about a homemade soup. Serious comfort food for the cold, dark evenings. I really enjoyed making this, despite my pumpkin fail, and it was a nice change to make something savoury after the many sweet recipes I've brought to you here over the last while. 

So...

Just kidding! If you do decide to try out my recipe for Pumpkin and Lentil soup I hope you enjoy it as much as we did :) Until next time...