Ingredients
- olive oil 2 tbsp
- onions 2, roughly chopped
- carrots 2, diced
- celery 2 sticks, diced
- garlic 2 cloves, roughly chopped
- pumpkin or butternut squash 1kg after peeling, cut into chunks
- chicken stock 1.2 litres
- double cream 150ml
- nutmeg for grating (optional)
TOASTIES
- dolcelatte 150g, rind removed
- mozzarella 1 ball, drained and grated
- sage leaves chopped to make 1 tbsp
- bloomer 8 slices
- butter
Method
STEP 1
Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the onions, carrots, celery and garlic until soft. Add the pumpkin and cook for 5 minutes, then tip in the stock and simmer until the pumpkin is soft and you can mash it with the back of a spoon. Add the cream and cook gently for 2-3 minutes. Put everything in a blender and whizz until smooth (or use a stick blender). Gently reheat to serve, grating over a little nutmeg, if you like.
STEP 2
Meanwhile, to make the toasties, mash together the blue cheese and mozzarella with the sage. Divide the mixture between the bloomer slices to make 4 sandwiches. Butter the outside of the sandwiches then fry on both sides in a non-stick frying pan until golden and the cheeses have melted (if you need to do this in 2 batches, you can keep the sandwiches warm in a low oven). Cut into fat fingers then serve with the soup.
