Guest Recipe: Pumpkin Soup Recipe from Perpperazzi Food Styling and Photography
Monika Coghlan is a Recipe Developer, Food Stylist & Photographer based in Cork.
She has been cooking and baking since she remembers. She loves experimenting with food and discovering new flavours. Her recipes are simple and based on fresh accessible ingredients and seasonal produce.
Monika strongly supports local Irish food producers and has established relationships with many of them. At the moment she is working in collaboration with Chia Bia in Tramore, Co. Waterford on a series of healthy recipes based on chia seeds.
She loves creative work, and finds arranging and decorating food as well as table decor and setting extremely fascinating.
Through her images, Monika combines her love for food with her passion for photography. Her photos are authentic and show food’s natural beauty.
Monika’s recipes and images have been published in several magazines, e.g. House and Home, Business Cork, Hi.
She has also been nominated for this year’s Cork Business Awards in the Cork Photographer of the Year category.
She has completed several cooking and photography courses over the years, in Ireland and abroad, including a recent baking experience at Ballymaloe Cookery School under the watchful eye of Rachel Allen.
On a personal note, Monika is a happy wife and a proud mum of two little girls.
CREAMY TURMERIC & CORIANDER PUMPKIN SOUP WITH CROUTONS & PANCETTA
Ingredients
1 medium pumpkin or butternut squash, deseeded, peeled & diced
1 medium carrot, peeled & diced
1 large potato, peeled & diced
1/2 onion, peeled & diced
1 organic vegetable stock cube
A handful of fresh coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 bay leaves
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
4 pancetta streaks, fried until golden
2 slices of bread
Olive oil
Fresh cream
Pumpkin seeds
Method
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Deseed, peel and dice all vegetables. In a large pot, bring them to the boil with 1l of water, stock cube and bay leaves.
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Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Discard the bay leaves. Add a handful of fresh coriander.
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Blend the soup using a hand blender or liquidiser.
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Season with salt, pepper and turmeric.
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To make the croutons: Dice the bread slices, drizzle with some olive oil and bake in the oven for 5 minutes at 180C.
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Serve the soup with a dash of fresh cream, croutons, pumpkin seeds and a fried pancetta streak.