If it’s lovely, hot summer weather when you read this, you might not particularly relish the thought of a
steaming bowl of rich, creamy pumpkin soup. But sometimes in the garden you just have to think ahead
(and maybe this is a chilly spring day, not summery at all.)

Now is the time to sow pumpkin (and squashes in general); and though you won’t see the fruits of your labour until late summer, the rewards can be (in this case, literally) huge. That said, I don’t really like exaggerated pumpkins. Here at Le Manoir we’re looking for what I call a “pumpkin experience,” the essence of pumpkin flavour and texture, not for some monster large enough for Cinderella’s coach, or for a weird large orange globe to hollow out for a lantern.

In fact, we’ve done trials of several varieties, in order to find the one that has the best flavour, the most attractive colour, and exactly the right degree of starchiness and moisture. The bright orange colour of pumpkin tells you straightaway that pumpkin is simply packed with the important antioxidant, beta-carotene, one of the plant carotenoids converted to vitamin A in the body. So this winter squash is not only delicious but good for us.

I’m sure few regular readers will be surprised to learn that the winner is - a French variety. Indeed, it’s what’s now called an “heirloom” variety, Muscat de Provence. It has a few synonyms, one of which is Musquée de Provence, which is the name it’s called in the Original Touch online seed list, see www.originaltouch.co.uk, and also in the Tucker’s Seed catalogue - see www.tuckers-seeds.co.uk (though they’ve already sold out this year.)

Muscat de Provence is a flattened, deeply ridged, dark green fruit that turns to terracotta/orange with smooth, orange flesh that we found to be the sweetest with the greatest depth of flavour of all those we trialled in our vegetable garden at Le Manoir. It weighs in at anywhere from nearly 2kg to 8kg, but this is all solid flesh, unlike the many watery British varieties we tried. It keeps beautifully over the winter. The only other variety we grow is a much smaller, pale green winter squash, Crown Prince, whose very starchy flesh is ideal for making pumpkin ravioli.

From germination to maturity takes about 100 days. At home my mother used pumpkin chiefly for soup, but always in savoury dishes - the American idea of using pumpkin in sweet dishes never caught on in France. Sometimes Maman Blanc would make a gratin, usually finished with gruyère cheese, or with additional egg whites but still in a gratin dish, a soufflé. Pumpkin soup is a tolerant, easy dish. If you want precise quantities, these are taken from the recipe for serving the soup in the pumpkin itself in my book, “Cooking for Friends.”

The general idea, to serve 4, is to sweat a chopped onion in 15-20g of unsalted butter for 3 mins without colouring, then add the coarsely chopped flesh of a 3-4kg pumpkin (which must be ripe - otherwise the soup will have little taste at all) and cook for 3-4 mins. Add 200ml of a sweet white wine and boil for 1 minute, then add 400ml each of milk and double cream and simmer for 15-20 mins. Liquidise and force through a sieve into a clean saucepan. Add an optional tablespoon of Kirsch if you like, taste and season with salt, freshly milled pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.

Serve, if you like, with a garnish of slices of lightly buttered, toasted baguette (4- 5 per serving); mix 100g of finely grated gruyère with 3 egg yolks, 2 tablespoons of whipping cream and an optional teaspoon of Kirsch. Put a little mound of this mixture on each slice of baguette, and grill until lightly browned. Hand the croutons around separately from the soup.