Autumnal joy

I don’t know if there is anything better than the colours of autumn! I completely love this time of year in nature – the golds, the reds, the oranges, the yellows… And it is this week’s crop in my veg patch that has inspired today’s blog, which is a recipe, this time using pumpkins and parmesan – two of my favourite ingredients.
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Pumpkin and parmesan soup
Ingredients
50g butter
1 onion, peeled, chopped
1kg pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed and reserved, flesh cubed
800ml hot vegetable stock
110g parmesan, or a similar vegetarian hard cheese, (include the cheese rind if desired), roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Heat a large frying pan over a low to medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the butter and onion and fry gently for 8-10 minutes, or until softened but not coloured. Increase the heat to medium, add the diced pumpkin and continue to fry, stirring well, for 2-3 minutes.
Pour the hot vegetable stock over the pumpkin mixture and bring to the boil. Stir in the parmesan, then return the mixture to a simmer and continue to simmer for a further 8-10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Transfer batches of the mixture to a food processor/blender and blend to a smooth purée. Repeat the process until all of the mixture has been blended to a purée. If you like, you can strain the soup mixture through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan and heat until warmed through.