Creamy Pumpkin and Spinach Soup with Crispy Bacon
Try this delicious recipe for Creamy Pumpkin and Spinach Soup with Crispy Bacon.
Try this delicious recipe for Creamy Pumpkin and Spinach Soup with Crispy Bacon.
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 x 2kg whole kent or butternut pumpkin washed, peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped
- 2 potatoes peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and chopped
- salt to season
- enough water to fill your pot (3/4 full or just covering vegetables)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable stock (i use vegeta)
- 1/2 cup (125ml) low fat/light cream (i use philadelphia cream for cooking)
- 300 g |10oz shortcut bacon divided
- 4 cups baby leaf spinach washed
- extra cream to serve
- Carbohydrate 20.14796 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0.25084 g
- Fiber 3.45960005092621 g
- Protein 2.87636 g
- Saturated Fat 0.05554 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (156g)
- Sodium 41.788 mg
- Sugar 16.6883599490738 g
- Trans Fat 0.076396 g
- Calories 90 calories
Step-by-step
- Combine pumpkin, potatoes, carrots and onion in a medium - large sized pot/saucepan with just enough water to cover the vegetables and salt to season.
- Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer until all vegetables are soft.
- Add stock powder, stirring, and taste. (Add more salt or stock powder to suit your tastes).
- Add the spinach leaves, and push them down gently into the hot water until wilted.
- In another pan, fry ¾ of the bacon until crisp.
- When bacon is crisp and vegetables are soft, add the cream and bacon to the pot and using a stick-blender or bar mix, blend soup until smooth and lump free. Alternatively, pour ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Serve with a drizzle of extra cream and top with remaining bacon.
Unlike translucent broths thickened with roux or clear vegetable consomm©s, heavy pureed soups rely entirely on starchy root vegetables and squash to build body. Historically, thick pumpkin potages originated in European peasant kitchens where winter squash and potatoes served as accessible field crops that could be boiled down and rendered smooth with heavy cream. When simmering the squash, potatoes, and carrots, ensure the water level stays strictly at three-quarters full; excessive liquid dilutes the natural starches and prevents the immersion blender from achieving a velvety emulsion. Cooking the vegetables until completely fork-tender ruptures the cell walls, releasing pectin and gelatinized starches that naturally bind the liquid. Integrating light cooking cream introduces milk fats that coat the tongue, heightening flavor perception while tempering the natural sweetness of the carrots and pumpkin. Rendering the shortcut bacon separately until crisp provides a distinct textural and salt contrast to the rich, uniform soup base. For those managing dietary needs, substituting vegetable broth and omitting the dairy or swapping it for a plant-based alternative maintains the soup's fundamental integrity.
