Nigel Slater's lentil and pumpkin soup-stew and baked figs recipes (2024)

Half soup, half stew, a thick, somewhat homely bowl of food is what I need right now. Big, generous, cheap family food. The sort of stuff you bring to the table in your biggest pot and dish out with a ladle. Earlier in the week I made such a supper from a packet of lentils and a pumpkin. The intention was to make something sweet and earthy that would last for a couple of days in the fridge. One minute it was a soup, then, as it boiled down to something altogether thicker, it became as hearty as a stew.

The point of these recipes has always been to fill people up for as little money as possible. For me they are more about having something good to come home to – if there is nothing waiting for me at the end of my journey then I raid the cupboards and fridge for anything edible.

Making soups bolstering enough to be a main course involves about half an hour of hands-on action, followed by an hour where we are only needed to give the pot an occasional lazy stir.

Unlike a simple hotpot, where the ingredients are left to do their own thing in a slow oven, these pulse-based soup-stews require a base on which to build up layers of flavour. Onions stewed in oil or butter until you can crush them between your fingers; a diced carrot; shreds of celery or chard; maybe atomato, and herbs whose woody texture is suited to slow cooking: thyme, bay, rosemary. All of these will give you a solid rock on which to build.

I could have added a lump of bacon or pancetta cut into strips or cubes. Anything cured or smoked adds depth and savour, but I really have no wish to eat meat every day. Mushrooms, bless them, will do much the same thing.

A medium-sized pumpkin produces enough velvety broth to feed six or eight. Cut into large chunks (small ones fall apart), the flesh of the pumpkin offers sweetness in spades. In savoury dishes that level of sugar needs a balance, which is why the golden-fleshed squash varieties work so well in curries and soups into which you have stirred spices such as chilli and ginger.

But that sweetness can also be tempered by earthy interventions, such as lentils, mushrooms and miso. Lentils bring with them a sort of spicy earthiness and thicken the liquid. You could bring about a sustaining, velvety quality by adding cornflour or arrowroot, stirring in a carton of cream or maybe adding bread. But I prefer to keep with what I have already, simply blending a small portion and returning it to the pan. In doing so, you are thickening and enriching the soup without introducing any new elements. Suddenly your soup is ameal in a bowl. I might start eating it with a knife and fork, but I like to finish it with a spoon so I don't miss a drop.

I rarely follow this sort of meal with anything more than a plate of fruit. Abunch of grapes maybe, or some new-season apples. But there are some fine fat figs around and, fig pig that I am, I cannot resist them. Last week Idid my favourite fig recipe of baking them with wine and fruit jelly, but Iadded a generous splash of sloe gin, and the whole thing took on a seductive note the dish hadn't had before. Tofill everyone up, I slid the collapsing figs on to rounds of toasted panettone (for want of brioche). A fitting end for another golden autumn afternoon.

LENTIL AND PUMPKIN SOUP-STEW

Peel the garlic and slice thinly. Pull the leaves from the rosemary stems and roughly chop, then add to the softening onions with sliced garlic. When all is soft, sweet and lightly coloured, tip in the lentils and a litre of the stock. Drop in the bay leaves. Bring the mixture to the boil, then lower the heat so that the lentils simmer gently for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and seed the pumpkin and cut the flesh into large, meaty chunks. I make these large enough that you will have to cut them to put them in your mouth. Any smaller and you may find they dissolve into the soup.

Add the pumpkin to the lentils and leave to simmer until the squash is thoroughly tender – about 15 minutes. This is also the point to add seasoning. Itwill need salt and black pepper, and the red-wine vinegar. Stir in the parsley.

Remove two large ladles of the stew and blitz to a purée in a blender or food processor with the remaining 250ml of stock. (You can beat it to a pulp with a potato masher if you prefer.) Return the puréed mixture to the pan and stir gently.

To serve, pile into wide bowls or deep plates. Drop a heaped tbsp of crème fraîche or labne on to each portion of stew, then pour a little extra-virgin olive oil over the top.

The dish will keep for a day or two in the fridge. Reheat gently, adding a little more stock if necessary.

BAKED FIGS ON SWEET TOAST

Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Wipe the figs, slice them in half from top to bottom and place them, cut-side down, in a shallow baking dish. Put the wine in asmall pan and add the jelly and, if you are using it, the sloe or damson gin. Warm over a moderate heat until the jelly has melted. Pour the mixture over the figs and put them in the oven.

Leave the fruit to cook for 20 to 30 minutes, or until they are almost jelly soft. Take care that the sauce doesn't overcook and become too jammy.

Lightly toast the brioche or panettone. Place a couple of figs on each slice of toast, spoon over the sauce, and serve.