Pumpkin Soup with Caramelised Onion and Crisp Sage

Caramelise the onions. Melt the 40 g butter in the casserole over medium heat, then add the onions and rosemary. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onions are soft, sweet and golden; lower the heat if they start to catch. Slow cooking turns the natural sugars in the onion into deep, toasty flavours that give the soup its backbone.

Add the garlic. Stir in the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes more. The onions will darken by another shade and the kitchen will smell sweet and savoury. Adding garlic late stops it burning and turning bitter during the long onion stage.

Deglaze with apple juice. Pour in the apple juice and let it bubble for 2-3 minutes, scraping the base of the pan with the spoon, until roughly half has gone. Those browned bits stuck to the pot dissolve into the juice, and its gentle acidity balances the sweetness of the pumpkin.

Simmer the soup. Add the broth, water, pumpkin purée, nutmeg, cloves, salt and pepper, stir well and bring to the boil. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, scraping the bottom regularly. Thick purées scorch easily, so frequent stirring keeps the flavour clean.

Blend until silky. Purée the soup with the stick blender, or in batches in a blender, until there are no flecks of onion left. Bring it back to a simmer, then take it off the heat and stir in the cream; add a splash of water if it seems too thick. Adding cream off the heat keeps it from splitting and preserves its fresh, rich taste.

Crisp the sage. Melt the 25 g butter in the small frying pan over medium heat. When it foams, add the sage leaves and fry for 30-60 seconds until they turn darker green and crisp, and the butter smells nutty. Lift the leaves onto the kitchen paper, where they will crisp up further as they cool.

Finish and serve. Ladle the soup into warm bowls, spoon a little of the browned butter over each and top with the crisp sage. The browned butter adds a toasty note that lifts the sweet pumpkin.