Monday Makery: Pumpkin Soup

Glorious Gourds at WOWO

On the first weekend of October we were blessed with some hot, sunny days so we headed to our favourite Sussex campsite Waspbourne Manor Farm, aka Wowo.  It was a wonderful camping experience amongst the changing leaves of the trees, the days were hot but the evenings were cold and definitely required a big roaring campfire and some hot soup.

Wowo always has an abundance of fresh produce all year round and this year their crop of gourds for the autumn was truly magnificent.  Jean, the owner of Waspbourne Manor Farm, is very passionate about all the  pumpkins in different varieties and has created her own recipe book 'Gourds Galore.' The pumpkins in the pictures above are all for sale at the Wowo shop.  Even if you're not camping you can pop by to buy some glorious gourds in time for Halloween and for some wonderful autumm feasts. Much more exciting than going to the supermarket!

I got really drawn in and inspired by all the shapes and colours and chose 3 gourds to take home: a Tom Fox, which is tall with a good stalk and the perfect jack-o-lantern shape for Halloween, another one which is known as a Turks Turban which is very decorative and a long-lasting one for the larder and lastly one whose name eludes me but looks like a small Cinderella type pumpkin (pumpkin experts please inform me otherwise!)

Pumpkins are ideal for soups and stews - therefore, today's makery is a recipe for a delicious Pumpkin Soup.

• 1 Large Pumpkin (approx 1kg of scooped out pumpkin flesh)
• 40g butter
• 1 onion - chopped
• Vegetable Stock 500ml
• Milk 200ml
• pinch of nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste
• for a spicy version add a pich of cayenne and cumin along with the vegetable stock

If you'd like to use the pumpkin itself as the soup tureen you can simply slice off the lid and scoop out the inside, rather than chop up the whole pumpkin. This also means it can become a lantern too!

Melt the butter and gently cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft.  Add the pumpkin and allow to soften a little in the butter along with the onions. Add the vegetable stock and the spice if you desire.  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.  Remove from heat. Once cooled a little puree in a liquidiser and return to the pan. Stir in milk to the desired thickness.  Add a pinch of nutmeg and serve in the pumpkin tureen.  So simple and satisfying!

My 3 year old son ate this with much enthusiasm. It's a soup that's freezable and pumpkin puree is a great baby food too as it's very nutritious.

Gourds are now officially my favourite vegetable and I shall be back at Wowo to get some tips from Jean on growing them.

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This is part of our Monday Makery series, where each week we bring craft and recipe ideas and inspiration.

Each week we bring new ideas to our blog through different blog series; Tuesday has previously brought the 'story behind our collections' and now brings 'tell us its tuesday' a fun interview with our favourite creators, designers, bloggers and imaginative extraordinaire's. Wednesday we woo you with new treats in the collection of our boutique. Thursday will leave you inspired through the 'art of living' and Friday we finish with 'once upon a week' where you can see what's happening in the lives of the sisters of Sisters Guild.
For more behind the scenes photos of Sisters Guild we have the gallery of the A-Z of Sisters Guild here.

If you would like to share some ideas as a guest blogger on the Monday Makery we would be very excited to hear from you. Use the contact form on our main website here.
www.sistersguild.co.uk