This is adapted from my book THE SECRET OF COOKING. This is the soup recipe you need when your body is crying out for the comfort of a bowl of soup but your mind says 'I'm too busy/tired/stressed/ill to cook'.  There is no sautéing and almost no chopping. I give various versions in the book. This pumpkin one is especially velvety and also vegan if you serve it without added Parmesan. Children seem to love it. It's so easy it practically cooks itself.

 

The first time I tried this all-in-one method, I thought it would make for dull soup but actually, these soups are mystifyingly and wonderfully full in flavour if you get the balance of vegetables right. I have a few different versions in the book (the green one with spring greens is probably still my favourite) and I created this new one involving white beans and tomatoes for one of my Substacks here which several friends have told me they can’t stop making.

Vegan (though not if you add Parmesan at the end, as I often do)

Serves 4–6 or more if any of you are children

This has the sweet restorative comfort of tinned soup, only it tastes so much better. The squash or pumpkin makes it taste creamy, even though it contains no cream. I make this for myself when feeling under the weather and there’s a chill in the air.

Ingredients

500g of squash or pumpkin (peeled weight) cut into chunks (NB any flavourful pumpkin or squash will do. Often I use butternut because it's the easiest to buy but in autumn, I especially love doing it with bright orange Onion squash/kuri squash  or with a beautiful grey-skinned Crown Prince). 

2–3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

100g of fennel (or celery)

1 onion, peeled and cut into chunks,

1 teaspoon of salt,

3 tablespoons of olive oil

800ml of water

1 tsp fine salt

lemon juice - 1 tbsp to start

To serve: any out of green herbs, chopped, diced pickled walnuts or diced apples, pumpkin seeds fried until they pop in a little olive oil, grated Parmesan, chopped rosemary and sliced garlic fried until golden with a pinch of chilli flakes, a dollop of sour cream

Method

 

Put all the vegetables into a large casserole dish. Add the oil, 1 teaspoon of salt and 800ml of water. Put the pan over a high heat, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on or until the vegetables are totally tender. You don’t have to watch it much or do anything for this 45 minutes – just rest your weary bones and notice as the kitchen starts to fill with a cosy steaminess.

Blitz with a hand-held blender.

Add lemon juice to taste (I start with 1 tbsp) and check the seasoning.

As Ruth Reichl observes, this kind of smooth pumpkin soup is very good with a contrasting ‘crisp dice’ of either apple or pickled walnuts in the bowl.

But lately I prefer eating it either with pumpkin seeds fried in a little olive oil until brown and popping or grated Parmesan.

 

Instant Pot version: Put everything except for the lemon and any final garnish into the Instant Pot and cook at high pressure for 8 minutes. Leave to slow-release. Add the lemon, blitz, adjust the seasoning and eat with any of the suggested garnishes.