Pumpkin Soup and Food For Thought

This morning saw me up early and making pumpkin soup for a soup and roll lunch we had at church today. This lunch was both a celebratory end to the 40 hour famine for those who had participated, and an occasion to welcome a very special guest, Leena Lavanya.

Leena is one of the most inspiring speakers I have ever heard. She works amongst the poorest of the poor in India, including AIDS victims and lepers. These people are rejected by their families and left to live without shelter or healthcare. She has opened a home and school for street children and child labourers and she also works with prostitutes, helping them to learn trades to that they can escape from prostitution yet still provide for their families. Another of her achievements is providing medicines, mosquito nets and multi-vitamins to tribal folk who suffer a high incidence of tuberculosis, malaria and mulnutrition.

Leena's grandfather was a pastor who worked with lepers and she grew up learning from him. She said that the Bible passage she lives by is the story of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me .... Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

You can read an article about Leena here.

Here is my recipe for pumpkin soup. You can use any variety of pumpkin. I mostly use butternut, which in some countries is called a squash, not pumpkin; I am not really clear on the distinction.

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

1 kg (2 lb) pumpkin flesh
1 L (1.5 pints) chicken stock
1 large onion
1 clove garlic
a little oil or butter
pinch nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 C cream
sour cream and chives, to serve

Method

Saute diced onion and garlic in butter/oil for a few minutes. Add pumpkin and stock and simmer, covered for 20 minutes. Cool slightly, then puree (I use a stick blender). Add nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in cream.

Reheat before serving. Serve with a swirl of sour cream and few diced chives for a garnish.

pumpkin soup

image of pumpkins from www.allposters.com