Pumpkin Festival

Every October in the National Trust village of Slindon tucked away in the West Sussex countryside, the colours of Autumn glory are used to create a vast display of hundreds of pumpkins and gourds of every size.  This labour of love draws visitors from far and wide to enjoy the spectacle and have the chance to buy such unusual bounty to take home.  With Hallowe'en approaching, the festival celebrated by the Celts for centuries and rather more commercialised these days, it's the perfect time of year to make a delicious soup.  My favourite is made using a medium size Butternut squash, peeled, cut into chunks (de-seeded) and roasted along with a medium size sweet potato, also peeled and cut into chunks.  Drizzled with a little olive oil this can be popped into the oven when you're preparing another meal, as the purpose is to roast them ready for when you want to make the soup.  For the soup use one or two chopped onions, softened in a little olive oil, two or three cloves of garlic peeled and chopped, plus a peeled and chopped piece of ginger (I use roughly a 1.5cm cube).  Once these ingredients have been gently fried together add the roast pumpkin and sweet potato then cover with your choice of stock (either chicken or vegetable based).  Simmer gently for around half an hour.  To finish off I then add a tin of coconut milk, blitz everything in the liquidiser to give a smooth texture and serve with lots of freshly chopped coriander and a scattering of natural cashew nuts (which I dry roast in a small frying pan).   There's an old Scottish prayer for this time of year:  "From ghoulies and ghosties; And long-legged beasties; And things that go bump in the night; Good Lord, deliver us!"
Wishing you a happy and safe All Hallows Eve for 31st October.