Pumpkin and Cinnamon Soup with Mousse of Green Pea and Summak

Here’s a seasonal soup with an Arabic twist. Pumpkins are the flavour of the month in October, and the slight sourness of summak gives the soup a regional spice. It’s something delicious to make once you’ve hollowed out all those pumpkins!

Ingredients:

Soup
500 g fresh pumpkin
160 g carrots
80 g celeriac
all peeled and cut into medium-sized chunks
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
80 g butter
500 ml chicken stock
2 tsp cinnamon
salt, pepper

Mousse of green peas
400 g peas, fresh or deep-frozen
100 ml whipping cream
2 tsp summak (a special Arabic spice that
gives the dish a slightly sour taste)
4 leaves gelatine, soaked and squeezed out
salt, pepper

Preparation
To make the soup, braise the pumpkin, carrots, celeriac and garlic in melted butter over a high heat for about 8 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer until the vegetables are soft. Season with cinnamon, salt and pepper before puréeing in a blender and pressing through a sieve.

Blanch the shelled or frozen peas before puréeing in a blender and pressing through a sieve. Add the cream and summak, mix well and then add the gelatine. Place the purée of peas in a piping bag and keep warm in a bain-marie.

To serve

Put the pumpkin soup in 4 soup-bowls and then carefully pipe a little of the puréed peas on top before garnishing with a sprinkling of summak and cinnamon. Serve with croutons or deep-fried ‘fingers’ of white toast.

Chef’s note
“This soup should be of a rather thick consistency, so that the purée of peas can float on top. Be careful how much cinnamon you use to season it, as the flavour of this spice becomes stronger when it is heated, and the pumpkin and carrots already lend the soup a slightly sweet taste.”

The recipe comes to you courtesy of the team at JW Marriott Dubai, tel: 04 6077042, website: http://www.jwmarriottdubai.com.