We are in October, the autumn has already begun, and with the first cool weather coming for me begins the season of the soups 🙂

I really like soups, especially in autumn/winter I use to prepare them quite often, usually for dinner, and the butternut squash/pumpkin soup I find it very good.

Well, it’s not only a pumpkin soup because I like to use also potatoes and leek in it, but of course the pumpkin gives its sweet notes 🙂

It’s a very simple recipe, healthy, and also cheap 🙂

INGREDIENTS (2 people):

• 350 g pumpkin
• 200 g potatoes
• 1 leek (not too big, preferably the white part)
• extra virgin olive oil, about 2-3 table spoons
• vegetable broth (how much it’s needed to reach the texture you prefer)
• half glass of dry white wine
• salt
• pumpkin seed oil to top the final dish (or extra virgin olive oil, that’s also perfect)
• chives to decorate (optional)

1. First of all, if you don’t have a vegetable broth already ready to use, prepare it with the usual things: onion, carrot, celery, parsley, etc. (but if you have some remaining meat broth you can use it too).
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into dice of about 1 cm, then put them into a bowl with cold water. Then peel the pumpkin and cut it also into dice of about the same size.
3. Take a pot and heat some oil. When the oil is hot enough add the leek cut into thin slices, and let it simmer for about 10/15 minutes at low heat, very gently, until it gets soft and transparent. Don’t burn it 🙂
4. Now set the heat higher and add the white wine, and leave the heat high until the wine has reduced.
5. When the wine has reduced drain the potatoes and add them into the pot, and add also the pumpkin.
6. Cover the whole with soup. I cover the potatoes and pumpkin exactly enough to be covered, but if you want a more liquid final result then you can add some more soup. In any case, you can regulate the thickness also in the end.
7. When the soup comes back to the boil, set the heat low and let it simmer until the potatoes and the pumpkin is soft, about 25 minutes but control always with your mouth. Control if it’s salty enough (you could also add some freshly grounded black pepper if you would like).
8. Once the potatoes are cooked, take a blender and reduce everything into a cream. If it’s too thick then add some more soup and blend it again.
9. Then take a sieve/strainer and filter all the cream, in this way it will be perfectly smooth.
10. Serve it in the dishes, adding a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil (or extra virgin olive oil) and some finely chopped chives (optional), and if you would like also some grated Parmigiano Reggiano. I suggest to serve also some croutons next to it 🙂 Enjoy!

PS: sometimes I do it just with pumpkin and no potatoes, and that’s also great, even smoother.