A Plethora of Pumpkin, Part 2!

This post is a continuation of "A Plethora of Pumpkin, Part 1, posted yesterday.  If you haven't read that yet, you should probably start here.

When I chopped up and baked my pumpkin, you may have noticed, I had quite a bit leftover.  What to do with it?  Pumpkin soup!

I actually made this soup while I was making the pasta dish, and then heated it up the next day.  It was super quick, super easy, and amazing.  Best of all, it kept well.  I made this on Sunday, had it for dinner Monday, and have been eating it for lunch every day since.

I was surprised, because even Jeff liked it, and he generally does not care for soups without "stuff" in them.  He's a stew kind of guy, and there are few of this style of soup that will appease his manly appetite.  But this he seemed to really like.

I agree.  This soup may not have any "stuff" in it, but it's still very thick and filling.  In fact, I've been surprised at how little I need to take to work for lunch in order to get full (especially if I drop a few fancy mushrooms in it!).  I would have loved to have had this recipe at this time last year, since it's a smooth soup and feels like a real meal!!

(For those of you who don't know me personally, last winter I had jaw surgery.  I wasn't able to eat any solid food for 6 weeks.  I lost 15 lbs.  I also watched a lot of Food Network/Travel Channel and spent many a lazy afternoon on the couch shouting violent, albeit muffled curses at Adam Richmond through a wired shut jaw!  Man vs. Food is not the best TV programing choice when you are starving...)

This is not a lunch portion, nor is it a mushroomed portion.  I did
cut up a few sage leaves and sprinkle them on top, which added a
nice additional layer of flavor.  The sage was from my windowsill
spice garden. 

Curried Pumpkin Soup

•  4 Tbsp butter (L)
• 2 medium onions, minced (L)
• 4 cloves minced garlic (L)
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander 
• pinch cayenne pepper
• 6 cups chopped, seasoned, roasted pumpkin (See recipe here), pureed (L)
• 5 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth (L)
• 2 cups milk (L)
• 1/2 cup buckwheat honey (L)
• Up to 1/2 cup heavy cream, as needed (L)

 Melt butter in a 4 quart saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes.  Add spices and stir for one additional minute.

Add pumpkin and chicken broth and blend well.  At this point you could transfer to a blender or use a immersion blender to blend up the onion pieces and get a completely smooth soup.  I chopped mine small enough that I wasn't worried about it and skipped this step.

With the soup over low heat, add honey and mix.  Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate.  Taste, and if the soup is too spicy for your taste, add cream to reduce the heat. 

You could top this with toasted pumpkin seeds, sage, sour cream, a sprinkle of nutmeg, or any other number of things.