Pumpkin and Potatoes Gourmet Creamy Soup

Today for the column "Aromatic Herbs and Spices" Lisa Fontana gives us some suggestions on how to prepare an extraordinary Pumpkin and Potato Soup, making it really tasty with the addition of some Aromatic Herbs capable of giving a truly wonderful and surprising aroma and scent. Today Lisa has chosen for this preparation to add Sage, Marjoram and Thyme.

Sometimes it takes very little to create small masterpieces even in a quick dinner where you have guests and few ingredients at home.

For example, by adding the crunchiness of lightly steamed carrots to the velvety which by its nature is soft and creamy, or leaving the leek almost raw after having lightly toasted it in a pan, we create a combination of aromas and textures that make up the most intriguing and tasty.

Let's see!

Just a few steps ... simple ... and quick ... to create a truly gourmet dish from the Pumpkin!

GOURMET CREAMY SOUP WITH PUMPKIN AND POTATOES WITH LEEK, PEPPERS AND CARROTS WITH AROMATIC HERBS SCENT ... SAGE, THYME AND MAGGIORANA

Ingredients for 4 people:

800 gr Pumpkin already cut SIPO

8 small new potatoes

2 onions

1 leek

Extra virgin olive oil

6 Purple Carrots SIPO

4 hot peppers

Sage

thyme

Marjoram

1 lime

salt

pepper

Preparation:

First of all, let's give a little bit of flavor to our vegetables, washing and cutting the onions and half a leek into small pieces.

Cook the onion and leek over a low heat for a few minutes with a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil until they are slightly golden. At this point add the pumpkin and the potatoes cut into coarse chunks. Mix with a spoonful of wood and add a little natural water at room temperature.

We cover with a lid and let it cook for about 20 minutes until the pumpkin and potatoes are soft.

While checking the cooking, braise the softer part of the leek in a lightly oiled non-stick pan, which we will have thinly cut into slices. It must be only slightly toasted and crunchy. We conclude with a little salt and leave aside on a plate.

For the preparation of the carrots, in order to create an interesting combination of textures, I chose a separate steam cooking leaving them crunchy and I divided them into thin strips that will be placed on top of the cream. In this recipe I used purple carrots, certainly less known and known, but really tasty and very rich in excellent properties. Among other things, although they may seem strange, it must be said that carrots were originally purple and now their value is being rediscovered, also in terms of biodiversity. The taste is very similar to that of classic orange carrots, the only difference is that they have about 22% less sugar, and are much richer in anthocyanins, water-soluble pigments that belong to the flavonoid family and which give this vegetable the very particular color that characterizes it. These substances are powerful antioxidants and it is estimated that these carrots have 4 times the content that we find in orange ones.

Meanwhile create a light mixture with the aromatic herbs that you will go and mix with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and lime juice.

The peppers, on the other hand, must be left raw, washed and cut into thin slices.

After 20 minutes and checking the softness of the vegetables, turn off the pot and use an immersion blender to create your soup by adjusting with water to obtain the desired consistency.

Reheat the velouté so as to serve it hot, placing the other vegetables prepared separately on the surface.

Finally garnish with the chopped herbs, a grated lime and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.