Creamy pumpkin soup / Zupa krem z dyni

Time to face it - it's autumn. The days are still sunny and warm, but the nights are cool. We have the last roses blooming in our garden. The leaves of wild wine are turning red, beautiful! Orange goes well with these colors as well as the warming taste of the pumpkin soup. I bought the Muscat pumpkin but you can also use butternut or hokkaido. Divide the pumpkin into pieces (difficult job) and remove the seeds. Wrap the pieces in baking paper and bake in the oven in 200 C degrees. Baking time depends on the size of the pieces. I baked them for about 1 hour. I always bake pumpkin, no matter what I am planning to do with it. This way it's easier to peel and cut. You can also use the pumpkin as a side dish for meat. Simply cut it into small pieces, and top with species after baking, then bake again until brown. For topping you can use: cumin, fennel, pepper, salt, paprika, crushed garlic, olive oil.

Today I am making soup thus I blended the pumpkin adding the juices from baking.

Cold green pea soup (starter) / Chłodnik z zielonego groszku

Cold green pea soup (starter)

500g green peas (frozen are also ok)

200ml cream fraiche

2 small natural yoghurts (1 packaging125g)

Salt, pepper, ½ tsp of lemon juice

1/2 tsp of baking soda

Boil the peas in salted water with baking soda- peas will keep the nice, vivid green color. When the peas are soft strain them trough a sieve and cool with cold water. Leave a spoon or two for decoration. Push the peas through the sieve. Blend with cream and yoghurt (cream and yoghurt will give them velvety texture).The consistency should be creamy, if it's too thick- add some milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in small portions, decorated with peas, cucumber stripes and dill.

Letnia zupa pomidorowa / Summer tomato soup

It' Andrzej's favorite. Very often I hear that Andrzej didn't have it for years (he believes so) and that I have to stop making empty promises and just cook it. So today I asked for a written confirmation that I served it. I heard that confirmation will be issued after another seven servings.

The tomatoes are in season now so I decided to used them.

Summer tomato soup

1,5kg ripe, fleshy tomatoes, (I use the Roma tomato)

Slightly more than 0.5l of chicken broth (or vegetable)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 big clove of garlic

1 flat tsp, spicy paprika powder

Creamy chanterelle soup / Zupa krem z kurek

In Poland, chanterelle mushrooms are in season from late June. They are really tasty and add amazing flavor to dishes. Chanterelles go well with meat, fish, vegetable and of course scrambled eggs. In Malaga it's possible to buy them even at the end of December. In Spain you can also buy a mushroom that is very similar to chanterelle (darker, almost black and slimmer), it's called Black Trumpet. From the literature I know that they also grow in Polish woods but I have never seen them. They are quite popular in Andalusia. If I have a chance I will cook something with them. I'm really curious of the flavor. Today, creamy soup with well known chanterelle: