grey weather

Malta has joined the celebration of Halloween only recently . If you go back a few years, you would have only found the occasional costume party here and there, but now lit up pumpkins in the windows and ‘trick or treating’ seemed to have found their place in our culture as well. Here at Design Sorbet we want to share the celebration of Halloween with you by sharing our autumnally experience at the pumpkin fest (‘Festa tal-Qara`Ahmar’ as we call it in Malta).

This Festival is being organised yearly at Manikata by the Koperrativa Rurali Manikata and the Manikata Parish Church, with the support of the Mellieha Local Council. Although we arrived late, in the rain and most of the stands where closing down, this event was still a worthy visit. It was enough just to see all the wet pumpkins still on farm carts, stands and in the streets with the rain pouring on them. It was quite a scene. You could smell the first smells of winter and the grey weather was just appropriate for the weekend before Halloween. We were also lucky enough to find two stands still open and I bought a quirky jar of pumpkin jam and two pumpkins. I couldn’t resist and as soon as I came home I started to work on a pumpkin soup (following my mum`s recipe) and kept the other one to carve or to draw on for this Wednesday.

If you still haven’t had any time to look up any pumpkin recipes or pumpkin carving ideas. I’ve done the job for you. Here’s something you can try out:

Mum`s Pumpkin Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 kilo and a half pumpkin
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic
4 medium onions
2 large potatoes
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
Juice of 1 medium orange (4 tablespoons)
Pinch of salt and fresh pepper

Method:

Cook the onion and garlic in olive oil, in a pan over medium heat.
Combine the onion, garlic, pumpkin chunks, chicken broth, potato cubes, orange juice and cinnamon in a large saucepan. Cook slowly for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat, leave to cool for few minutes and purée the soup with a hand blender.
Garnish with fresh cream and herb of your choice. Add a drizzle of honey (optional).
Serve in a blue bowl:) Accompanied with warm toasted bread and a glass of wine (maybe a Chardonnay or a Pinot Noir).