The first frosts have started and the days are shorter, if like me, you want something light and quick for lunch, then a comforting bowl of soup fits the bill perfectly for these chilly autumnal days.
A few years ago I was given a soupmaker to review. Initially I thought that it'd be one of those kitchen gadgets that gets used once or twice and then finds it's way into a cupboard never to be used again. In this case I was wrong; I absolutely love it and have used it many, many times. The beauty of it is that I can put all the ingredients in and leave the soupmaker to do the work, there's no need to sweat the vegetables first (which means that oil isn't needed), and no need to blend the soup with a stick blender once it's cooked.
After Halloween I found that I was left with a couple of small pumpkins, and didn't want them to go to waste, so I decided to adapt a recipe that used sweet potatoes to also include the pumpkin. From start to finish this took less than 30 minutes for the preparation and cooking. The Tagine paste added a lovely smoky mildly spicy flavour to the soup. This is one I'm definitely going to make again.
If you don't have a soupmaker, you'll need to sweat the vegetables for about 10 minutes before adding the stock and cooking until its soft enough to blend with a stick blender. Why not give it ago?
