Annabel’s Pumpkin Soup with Cheese Straw Snakes

Warm up tums with a bubbling bowl of pumpkin soup served with creepy cheese snake straws.

Prep: 25 minutes

Cook: 30 minutes

Makes: 4 portions and 15 cheese straw snakes

Ingredients

Soup

1 tbsp sunflower oil

2 onions, peeled and chopped

2 carrots, peeled and diced

600g pumpkin, peeled and diced

¼ red chilli, finely diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 ½ pints chicken or vegetable stock

50ml double cream (optional)

Cheese straw snakes

320g packet puff pastry

25g Parmesan cheese, grated

25g Gruyere cheese, grated

1 egg, beaten

Poppy seeds

Black olives, for decoration

Red pepper, for decoration

Method

To make the soup, heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and fry for a few minutes.

Add the carrots, pumpkin, chilli and garlic and fry for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the stock, cover and bring up to the boil. Season and simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C Fan. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Roll out the pastry thinly to a large rectangle. Sprinkle half of the pastry with the cheese. Fold over the other half. Re-roll to make a rectangle that measures about 35 x 25 cm.

Slice into 1 ½ cm strips lengthways.

Loosely wrap each strip around a wooden spoon to make a spiral shape for the snake’s body. Shape one end into the head.

Arrange on the baking sheet. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Chop the olives into small pieces and add to the snake faces to make the eyes. Make tongues out of red pepper.

Blend the soup until smooth.

Pour the soup into bowls and drizzle with cream before serving (if using) alongside the cheese straw snakes.

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