Portobello Hotel's pumpkin soup

Photo: Gregor Richardson
Photo: Gregor Richardson
Ask a Chef reveals the secrets of those superb dishes you ate in cafes and restaurants and wanted to try yourself.

Ingredients
1 large pumpkin (around 3kg), peeled and cut into wedges
2 large brown onions, peeled and sliced
½ cup brown sugar
3L of vegetable stock (homemade or good-quality store-bought)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Method
Heat oven to 220degC.

Place pumpkin in a roasting dish, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast until soft and golden brown. Test with a sharp knife or fork.

While the pumpkin is roasting, cook the onions in a hot skillet or pan until they are translucent.

Add brown sugar to the onions and cook until the mixture caramelises - do not stir, if necessary fold the onions like you would in baking as it allows the sugar to caramelise.

Place cooked pumpkin into a large pot (5L or larger) and add 1L of stock.

Stir continuously over a high heat until the pumpkin breaks up.

Add the caramelised onion and remaining vegetable stock.

Use a stick blender to blend the soup until smooth (or transfer pumpkin and a little stock to a food processor or blender in batches and blend until smooth, then return to pot, adding remaining stock and reduce).

Recipe provided by Portobello Hotel. Recipe requested by Bob Newbury, of Dunedin.

If you have enjoyed a dish in an Otago cafe or restaurant and would like the recipe, write to Ask a Chef, Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, Dunedin, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz, including your name, address and a daytime telephone number, and we will request it.

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