Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 med pumpkin
• 1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1-2 tsp Spicecraft Smokey Garlic Salt
• 25gm butter
• 2 onion roughly chopped
• 3 sticks celery chopped
• 2 litres chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp Spicecraft Smokey Garlic Salt
• 250ml cream

Crunchy topping:

• 5 slices bread
• 5 rashes streaky bacon
• 1 med onion
• 40gms butter 

Directions:

1. Cut pumpkin into chunks, coat with olive oil and Smokey Garlic Salt and smoke in a smoker or roast in the oven at 180C until cooked through.
2. Dice up the onion, and celery, sweat off in butter until soft, then add the pumpkin and chicken stock, simmer until soft.
3. Blitz until smooth, add cream and bring back to a simmer, thin out with a little water or more stock if needed, until desired consistency.
4. Add Smokey Garlic Salt to the soup, stir, taste, add more salt if you want.
5. Meanwhile chop the second lot of onions and the bacon into 1 cm dice, and sauté in a pan with the butter, until everything is a little coloured, then add the diced bread, stir through and finish cooking in the oven until brown and crispy - about 15 min at 170C.
6. Plate up the soup and top with crispy topping.