These cold dreary days of late autumn have me longing for the warm blue skies of summer. When the days are long and the soup is cold rather than hot. When tomatoes glow red, are juicy, ripe and ready for a refreshing bowl of gazpacho. As I write this my mind wants to escape with a trip to Malaga for some authentic gazpacho. Sigh…
It will be a while before those sweltering days return, and for now I’ll have to suck it up and make the best of it. One way I’m doing so is by trying to bring a little summer onto my autumn table. This roasted Spanish pumpkin and pepper soup was inspired by summery gazpacho. It was the traditional tomato based gazpacho that aroused my interest. Of course we all know that an authentic tomato based gazpacho is made with fresh plump tomatoes not canned tomatoes or tomato juice -yuck. Unfortunately tomato season has passed and so I chose to create a recipe around seasonal pumpkin fruit instead.
Cucumbers are one of the traditional ingredients in gazpacho, but I just could not see it pairing well with pumpkin. (Actually the combination sounds awful to me.) Instead I paired roasted Spanish pumpkin with a few roasted sweet Spanish peppers. While the ingredients might not be a “traditional” gazpacho soup recipe it certainly is a delicious combination. To add a little more Spanish flair I used a bit of smoked Spanish pimenton or paprika. No bread was needed to thicken the soup as the pumpkin created a thick consistency.
**Please do not copy and paste recipe onto Pinterest, Google+, or Facebook. Thank you!**
- 1 small Spanish onion (or shallot), peeled and halved
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 300 gm or just over ½ lb sweet red peppers, seeded
- 460 gm or 1 lb. ready roasted Spanish pumpkin (or variety of choice) and skin removed
- ½ tsp smoked Spanish paprika (pimenton ahumado)
- salt & finely ground black pepper, to taste
- a little vegetable broth if needed (I used about ⅓ cup)
- **Please notice that I used pumpkin that had been roasted the day before. If need be roast the pumpkin alongside the peppers and onion.**
- Preheat oven to 190c or 375f and roast the peppers, onion and garlic. The garlic will only need to roast for about 5 minutes, remove and set aside. Roast the onion and peppers for about 20 minutes but keep an eye so as not to burn the vegetables. Remove from oven and place in a seeled container for about 8 minutes. (This is to help make the pepper skin peel off easier.) Remove skin from peppers.
- Cube the roasted and peeled pumpkin and place in blender. Add the roasted and peeled red peppers, garlic, onion, salt, ground black pepper, and paprika. Blend until smooth. If need bee add a little bit of vegetable broth to help the blending. Check consistency and if it is not to desired texture add a little bit more vegetable broth.
- If serving warm: Place all ingredients in a pot and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired. Serve drizzled with olive oil, freshly chopped arugula and crusty bread of choice.
- If serving cold: After blending the ingredients place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired. Serve drizzled with olive oil, freshly chopped arugula and crusty bread of choice.
**Please do not copy and paste recipe onto Pinterest, Google+, or Facebook. Thank you!**
To achieve a smoother soup you could push it through a fine sieve and discard the leftover bits. I like the thicker consistency with little bits so I left it as was. Roasted peppers are one of my most favorite ways of eating them and they worked perfectly here. As did the spicy arugula bites and silky olive oil topping.
Delicioso to the last spoonful. Have a great weekend amigos and I’ll be back Sunday for an overdue Sunday Snapshots. Hasta pronto!
A wonderful soup! Flavorful and so comforting.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thank you Rosa!
Nancy, that is a super delicious soup! I can’t wait to try it. Beautiful shots too!
Thank you;)
A comforting soup indeed.
Yeppers;)
The soup looks so scrumptious and comforting. Just perfect for the autumn
Thanks Nandita!
Beautiful! Simple ingredients but packed with flavor.
Thanks Alyssa!
Pumpkin soup is one of my favorite and this roasted version look so delicious. Me too, loveeeeee eating roasted peppers!
Pumpkin everything is one of my favorites too;) Thanks Valynn!
Lovely ! Getting hungry just looking !
Thanks Sunithi!
I love the flavors in this soup, beautiful!
Thank you Laura!
A warming and delicious soup! I love it.
Danke Angie!
What a gorgeous photo. Love the look of the soup and the black bowl itself!
Thank you:) The bowls are actually a very dark purple. I wouldn’t mind adding some black bowls to my collection.
I can’t tell you how delicious this soup sounds. And so simple to pull together. You can never have too many good soup recipes and this one is destined for my soup folder now!
I agree Victoria, soups are such a great stable in my kitchen. Thank you and provecho!
The pumpkin and pepper combination sounds wonderful. (I think you’re right about the cucumber.) I’d share this with someone I love any day! :)
Thank you Betty! Hehe good for you;)
A vegan soup jam-packed with hearty flavors. These veggies were made to roast and this soup is something to be coveted!
Merci beaucoup Viviane!
I fully agree about the pumpkin v cucumber. Love gazpacho in summer and am likely to throw all kinds of colourful vegetables in it: but this, to me, is a ‘serious’ cold weather soup I may still be able to make this variable spring in my part of Oz: showery, sunny, no wind and about 25 degrees C! Not too many complaints!!
I can’t wait to experiment more with cold gazpacho. Yes, this one is a bit heavy for summer. Oh lucky you…I’m jealous;) But enjoy the beautiful weather and weekend.
Sounds like a wonderful pairing and it makes for a beautiful looking soup!
Thank you Sylvie!
Pumpkin and peppers sounds just fine. I don’t like cucumber so I would have been disappointed to see that here and in fact it would be a terrible pairing. I am sorry you are missing the summer but I selfishly am looking so forward to the warm weather after an awful rainy spring day today.
I love cucumber but am glad to see that you agree about the pairing. I hope the spring rain passes soon and enjoy the beautiful weather for me:)
I do love soup and this sounds like a really lovely combination.
Thank you:-)
Wowsa! That looks incredible!
And well done going for the roasted sweet Spanish peppers rather than the cucumber. Which totally sounds ‘ick’ to me too :)
Thanks:)
this sounds like a great adaptation! sigh. i have to suck it up for winter too, and it’s no fun at all.
So you can commiserate:) Thanks Anna!
The sweetness the pumpkin and peppers, and the smokiness from the paprika certainly make this a delicious and special soup!! Not sure what the difference is between a Spanish pumpkin and the pumpkins that buy, but I’ll look it up. Bought your book BTW. Have read through the whole thing and now I’m “studying it”. Great food photography guide! Thanks so much for writing it!
This is heaven on earth! Pumpkin & pepper. Perfect. I like it warm though.
Love my soup and this one looks heavenly to me;-) Love the color and the flavors- very nice to make it vegan;-)