Spring may have shown its sunshine yellow colours recently but we are still at that time of year where it can be two steps forward and one back. This weekend was one such skip backwards when the heavens decided to open on what was planned to be a day in the great outdoors.

Lurking in the freezer was the last bag of a pumpkin which I had roasted when it was in season some months ago. Now seemed an opportune moment to turn it into a warm and fiery soup.

Believe it or not, I had some bread in the kitchen which had travelled about 600 miles home from France with me last weekend, left forgotten in the bread bin all week. Dry rather than mouldy, it had turned itself into croutons in anticipation of this moment. Never let it be said that French bread doesn’t keep!

If you don’t happen to have pumpkin in March (really, why not?), substitute with sweet potato or even tinned pumpkin.

Read the recipe here or watch the highlights below.