It's still pumpkin time! Yes, again... I just can't get enough of their orange roundness and multiple uses. How many foods do you know which can be used to get all your agressions out by scraping hard flesh out of them, channel your attention by picking all the seeds from the fibrous guts, get all dirty up to your elbows while sitting in the living room, be creative in a glorious childish way and... is easy to accommodate into tasty meals?  And - lest we forget - let's you admire one third of your hard work, while picking at another third and preparing the last third? How many, I ask you?

2 weeks ago I prepared a pumpkin & chick-pea purée, flavoured with pimentón, to accompany the chermoula-marinated tuna steaks, and this weekend I prepared the Thai Pumpkin soup again, but this time with a vegetable stock (veggie friend among us), added some carrots for bulk and extra vivid colour and whizzed it in my super-blender until it was velvety smooth. I added the prawns after having set aside a portion for said veggie friend. The bowls were licked clean!

Then last night, after a day spent in-doors despite glorious sunshine (our excuse: late Halloween party), I carved out a large specimen, just for you. And the flesh was lovely pale orange, so I decided to try a Velouté de Potiron à la ASMO

flesh from 1 large pumpkin

1 onion finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 large Jerusalem artichokes, roughly chopped

4 sprigs of lemon thyme

a few pancetta cubes

2 bay leaves

stock to cover

Fry the onion and garlic in butter until tender, then add the other ingredients and fry, before adding the stock. Let it hubble, bubble, trouble and toil, then pick out the bay leaves and pancetta, and WHIIIIZZZ the rest. Discard the bay leaves, cut up the pancetta in smaller bits, add to the soup, season... et voilà! I have lunch for a few days with this, but I might serve some tonight at home with crispy fried Jerusalem artichoke slivers, a drizzle of peppery olive oil and a bit of parmesan. Can you hear my stomach grumbling?

And the 3rd third? I roasted the pumpkin seeds in a very hot oven on baking parchment, sprinkled with sea salt for 15 minutes, then added sugar and pimentón for the last 5-10 minutes (careful the sugar doesn't burn). Tasted GREAT with a beer.

We've done our bit by getting dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West (me) and The Cowardly Lion (Skat), along with our friends Dorothy, Glinda the Good Witch, The Tin Man and The Scarecrow. If you were around Paddington Saturday night, then yes, that was us skipping along singing 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road' and no, that beer was not stronger than you thought... Happy Halloween to all!

It's pumpkin time!!! What a glorious fruit! or is it a vegetable? So many shapes and colours. Boundless possibilities for cooking it. A sweet but not sickening taste. A melt-in-the-mouth texture. A last gift of sunshine from summer, to see us through the winter. And - lest we forget - an amazing vessel for jack'o lanterns and Cinderellas. What's not to like?

Some years ago I even discovered this very quick recipe, when I was looking for a way to use up all the orange stuff I had carved out of my lantern. Another creative venture of mine while I was between jobs...

500 g pumpkin, diced

2 tbsp red thai curry paste

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 can coconut milk (NOT SHAKEN - not stirred either)

2-3 kaffir lime leaves (or lime zest)

juice of 2 limes

fresh coriander, chopped

1 salmon steak, diced (frozen is just fine)

100 g prawns (again, frozen is fine)

75 dl fish stock

Fry the curry paste in the 'cream' which tops the coconut. If it's too dry, add a spoonful of the coconut milk. Add the onion and garlic. Fry until soft. Add the pumpkin and fry for 2-3 mins. Add the rest of the coconut milk and the kaffir lime leaves, then add enough stock to cover the rest, but not more than that. Cook for 20-25 minutes (depending on the type of pumpkin chosen, cooking time varies) until the pumkpin is tender. Add the salmon and the prawns and cook through. Add the lime juice. Serve in large bowls, sprinkled with the coriander.

This makes a great lunch at the office if - like me - you are lucky enough to have a small kitchen and a micro-wave at your disposal. Watch your colleagues go green with envy when they get a whiff of your fragrant soup, while they take a bite of yet another ham and cheese sandwich.