08 Jul Butternut pumpkin and quinoa soup

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the pumpkin halves cut-side up on a baking tray. Place the whole unpeeled onion on the tray as well. Place a garlic clove in each pumpkin cavity, then drizzle with the olive oil and pomegranate molasses. Scatter over the ground cumin and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 1 hour or until the pumpkin is cooked through, but not browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

You can make the spiced quinoa while the pumpkin is in the oven. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil over high heat. Add the quinoa, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool under running cold water. Drain well. Place the cooked quinoa in a bowl with the parsley, za’atar, sumac, chilli flakes and extra virgin olive oil. Mix well, then season with salt and pepper. Set aside while you finish the soup.

Pour any liquid that has gathered in the pumpkin cavities and the garlic cloves in a large saucepan. Scoop the pumpkin flesh into the saucepan and discard the skin. Remove the skin from the cooked onion and add the flesh to the saucepan. Pour over the vegetable stock and bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until slightly reduced, then remove from the heat.

Using a stick blender, purée the soup until smooth, then season with salt and pepper.

To serve, ladle the soup into individual bowls and top with as much of the spiced quinoa as you like. Serve with crusty bread.

Ingredients

• 2 kg butternut pumpkin, cut in half, seeds removed
• 1 onion (unpeeled)
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• sea salt and black pepper, to season
• 1.25 litres vegetable stock
• crusty bread, to serve

Spiced quinoa

• ¾ cup red quinoa
• ¾ cup chopped parsley
• ⅓ cup za’atar
• 1 tsp sumac
• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper, to season

Source: www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes