Smokey Garlic Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 medium pumpkin, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1-2 tsp Spicecraft Smokey Garlic Salt
• 25g butter
• 2 onions roughly chopped
• 3 sticks of celery chopped
• 2 litres of chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp Spicecraft Smokey Garlic Salt
• 250ml cream

Crunchy topping:

• 5 slices of bread, diced into 1cm pieces
• 5 rashers streaky bacon, diced into 1cm pieces
• 1 medium onion, diced into 1cm pieces
• 40g butter 

Directions:

1. Cut the 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 onions and celery, sweat off in butter until soft, add the pumpkin and chicken stock, and simmer until soft.
3. Blitz until smooth with a food processor or a blender, 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, and add more salt to taste.
5. Meanwhile, to make the crunchy topping, sauté in a pan with the butter the second lot of onions and the bacon, until everything is a little browned, 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.