Squash Your Fears

Eat pumpkin: delectable ideas for when you finish carving your Jack-O-Lantern!PUMPKIN SOUP Serves 4 1 vegetable stock cube 1 large onion, chopped 250g pumpkin, peeled and chopped 75g red lentils 400g canned tomatoes 1tbsp tomato purée 4 slices bread Yoghurt to serve Combine the stock cube with 800ml boiling water, and stir well. Next, cook the onion gently in a pan with 1 tablespoon of oil until it starts to brown. Add the stock, pumpkin, lentils, tomatoes and tomato purée, then simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Add a good pinch of pepper, then whizz with a blender until smooth. Meanwhile, toast the bread and cut each slice into the shape of a spider. Put the soup into bowls. Add the yoghurt to a piping bag with a really small nozzle, and quickly pipe a thin spiral onto the soup. Take a chopstick and draw through the spiral from the centre outwards to create a spider’s web. Serve with the toast. PUMPKIN PASTA Serves 4 1 onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 500g pumpkin, peeled and chopped 50-100ml whole milk 2tbsp tomato purée 2tbsp mascarpone 350g short pasta 40g grated parmesan Gently fry the onions and garlic in 2 tablespoons of oil until softened. Next, cook the pumpkin in a pan of boiling salted water for 10 to 15 minutes until tender. Drain and tip into a blender. Blend with 50ml milk, the onions and garlic until completely smooth, gradually adding more milk until the mixture is thick enough to just coat the back of a spoon. Tip into a large frying pan with the tomato purée and mascarpone, then bring to a simmer over a low heat. Cook the pasta until just al dente. Drain, reserving 100ml of the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the pumpkin sauce, parmesan and 50 to 100ml of the reserved water to loosen. Season and scatter with extra parmesan to serve.