Winter Warmer Pumpkin Soup

A great autumnal soup which is great served in the original pumpkin at the table

You will need:

1kg pumpkin flesh
½ fennel bulb, sliced
25g butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 litre vegetable stock
2 bay leaf
1 tablespoon dried thyme (fresh to garnish if you have it)
Pinch of salt and pepper
Badentoy Blue cheese for garnish (optional)
Roasted pumpkin seeds

Method:
Cut the top off the pumpkin, scrape out the seeds and put to one side. Do NOT throw out! Scoop out flesh and chop into inch dice.
Heat butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add chopped onion and bay leaves and sauté for 5 minutes or until softened. Add pumpkin cubes, garlic and sliced fennel. Sauté for another 5 minutes. Pour in the vegetable stock. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until pumpkin is tender. Remove and discard bay leaf.
Blitz in batches and return the soup to saucepan. Add salt and pepper to taste.

To roast pumpkin seeds simply clean away any flesh, spread out on a baking tray, drizzle with a little chilli rapeseed oil and freshly grind over salt and pepper. Bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes.
Ladle the soup into serving bowls or back into the original pumpkin and top with some fresh thyme and crumbled Badentoy blue cheese and roasted pumpkin seeds.