My super cool aunt, Jacqueline, gave me this pumpkin soup recipe years ago and since then it’s the only one I’ve used. I’m not a fan of lumpy pumpkin soup and I like mine to taste rich and pumpkiny. The roasting of the pumpkin produces this result with beautiful smoothness. Chop and roast the pumpkin days in advance and simply refrigerate until you want to blend the ingredients together. You can peel the skin off before hand or remove it after roasting – whichever you find easiest, though I think there’s a little more wastage of the pumpkin when you roast with skin on. I purchase my pumpkin from my local cheap-as-chips grocer and can usually pick up a 3kg for around $5. The other ingredients are incidental, especially if you, like me, use powdered stock. Serves 6-8.

• 3kg pumpkin, chopped into smallish pieces and roasted for around 1 hour.
• minimum of 7 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I used powdered. Increase until you have desired consistency)
• 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine roasted pumpkin, stock, mustard and honey in a large stock pot.
2. Process using a stick blender until ingredients are combined.
3. Heat through, stirring regularly and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Serve with drizzled cream and fresh bread. Enjoy!