Gordon Ramsay’s pumpkin soup with wild mushrooms is a nutrious light meal, or an impressive dinner party starter
Gordon Ramsay’s pumpkin soup with wild mushrooms recipe is a great way to give that classic bowl of pumpkin soup a brothy, slightly meatier flavour. Gordon says: “I adore this smooth, velvety soup. For a touch of luxury, I’m adding wild mushrooms – their warm, earthy flavour complements sweet, nutty pumpkin beautifully.” This soup is great way to use up leftover pumpkin. First Gordon Ramsay shows you how to make a pumpkin puree – which could also be frozen and used as a baby food. Serve with warm baguette.
Ingredients
- Pumpkin purée:
- about 1.5kg pumpkin
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
- handful of rosemary sprigs
- olive oil, to drizzle
- Soup:
- 1½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 30g Parmesan, freshly grated
- 800ml hot ham stock or chicken stock
- 100ml double cream
- 15g butter
- To garnish:
- 1½ tbsp olive oil
- 400g mixed wild mushrooms (chanterelles, trompettes etc), cleaned and trimmed
- 10g butter
- Parmesan shavings
Method
For the pumpkin purée, preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 3. Cut the pumpkin in half horizontally and remove the seeds – save these to make a snack (see below). Score the flesh, season with salt and pepper, then rub with the cut garlic halves. Lay rosemary sprigs and a garlic half in each pumpkin half. Drizzle with a little olive oil and place on baking trays.
Roast the pumpkin halves for about 1 hour until tender; the timing will depend on the variety, density and thickness. It is ready when you can effortlessly slip a knife into the thickest part of the flesh. Take out the rosemary and garlic; reserve the garlic. While still hot, scoop out the pumpkin flesh and purée in a blender or food processor.
For the soup, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook for 5–6 minutes until soft and translucent. Scoop out the flesh from 2 or 3 roasted garlic cloves and add to the pan with the nutmeg and a little seasoning. Sauté for a further 1–2 minutes.
Stir in the pumpkin purée and Parmesan, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10–12 minutes. Stir in the cream and heat for a minute.
In batches, ladle the soup into a blender and blend until smooth. Add the butter and blitz again to a velvety smooth texture. Pour the soup into a clean pan to reheat.
For the garnish, heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms over a high heat for a few minutes until the moisture released has cooked off and the pan is quite dry. Add the butter, season the mushrooms and stir, then remove from the heat.
Pour the hot soup into warmed bowls and spoon the sautéed mushrooms into the middle. Top with Parmesan shavings, grind over some pepper and serve.
Top tip for making Gordon Ramsay's pumpkin soup
Gordon says: 'You can use butternut squash instead of pumpkin, and chestnut mushrooms in place of wild ones if you like.'
