Pumpkin soup form the 1950's

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup. A creamy, warming soup perfect for Winter
Originally published in the Sydney Morning Herald, July 24th 1952

Ingredients

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 cups of pumpkin or orange winter squash. Chopped.

570ml or just over 19oz milk. You don’t need to chop that.

3 tsp plain flour (US all purpose flour)

Salt and pepper to taste

A pinch of nutmeg

Method

Put all of your chopped vegetables into a large saucepan.

Cover all of it with cold water.

Simmer on the stove until everything is soft.

Drain off the water and blend.

Take the flour and put it in a bowl. Add a little of the milk and mix into a paste.

Pour in the rest of the milk and stir thoroughly.

Pour the milk and flour mixture into the vegetables and stir over a low heat until it thickens.

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream or little squares of toast floating on the top.

A tray of pumpkin pasties cooling down.

Pumpkin Pasties

This week’s recipe is for pumpkin pasties, a savoury pastry that’s also great for hallowe’en and I even teach you how to do the pastie tap :-)

Ingredients

1/2 a small pumpkin/orange fleshed winter squash or 2 1/2 cups canned mashed pumpkin

2 1/2 cups of chopped mushrooms of your choice

1 cup of chopped bacon or ham

1 tablespoon of minced onion

2 eggs

salt & pepper

10-12 sheets or flaky or puff pastry

This recipe makes 45-50 pasties. Halve or quarter the ingredients to make fewer pasties

Method

Dice your pumpkin and boil or steam it. Mash and measure out 2 1/2 cups.

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C or 425 degrees F.

To make the filling for your pasties take your pumpkin, and season with salt and pepper.

Add the mushroom, bacon, minced onion.

Beat one of the eggs and mix everything well.

Beat your remaining egg.

Take your pastry and cut it into small circles about 4 or 5 inches across.

Place a spoonful of filling on one side of each circle.

Brush the edges of the circle with the beaten egg and fold over.

Press firmly all the way around with a fork then fold the edges over to seal.

Make a few holes in the top to let the steam out.

Brush the top with beaten egg.

Place on a tray covered in baking paper and bake in the over for 15 – 20 minutes. You can tell if they’re cooked if they sound hollow when you tap them on the bottom.

Place on a wire rack to cool.

Nom yourself silly.