Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Place the pumpkin chunks on an oven tray lined with baking paper, toss in 2 tbs of olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes, or until soft and tender. Remove and set aside.

While the pumpkin is roasting, bring a full kettle of water to the boil. Pick and finely chop the thyme leaves to get 1 tbs. Finely dice the brown onion. Peel and crush the garlic. Drain and rinse the cannellini beans. Slice the bake-at-home ciabatta bread into 1 cm cubes.

Place the ciabatta bread chunks and the pecans on a second oven tray lined with baking paper. Toss in 1 tbs of olive oil and the chopped thyme. Season with salt and pepper and bake for 5 minutes, or until golden and toasted. Remove and set aside.

While the croutons are baking, heat the remaining olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. Cook the brown onion for 2-3 minutes, or until softened. Add the crushed garlic and sweet mustard spice blend and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the cannellini beans, roasted pumpkin, boiling water (check the ingredients list for the amount) and crumbled vegetable stock cube. Stir to combine and then remove from the heat. Use a stick blender to pulse the mixture until thick and creamy. Add more boiling water if you prefer your soup slightly thinner. TIP: If you don’t have a stick blender you can use a potato masher, a fork or a blender. Simply remove the soup from the heat, allow to cool slightly then blend in batches until smooth.