Pumpkin Soup

My husband was at the Bicycle Kitchen working on The Phoenix. The day was very Octobery cool and breezy and I love eating for the season. The kitchen is bright and the door is always open onto the back yard and patio where the cats like to hang out and lounge. Shadow will usually curl up on the floor and while I chop and stir and simmer she is at my feet or nearby.

I tear pages out of magazines. Landscape ideas, kitchen ideas, bathroom ideas and plenty of recipe ideas. Last weekend I tore out page 66 for "Colin Cowie's Spectactular Spiced Pumkin Soup" recipe. I made some minor alterations to the recipe as I innevitably do, especially since the magazine recipes are always for parties of 8, never for a party of 2, so I adjust for that. And if it calls for spicy spices I will usually put a pinch more than the recipe calls for 'cause I like it that way. And in this recipe I didn't have any cayenne so I subbed it with PicoPica, my favorite hot sauce.

2 6"-ish pumkins
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 med yellow onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
Pinch ground cayenne pepper (or dash PicoPica Sauce)
1 30-ounce can 100% pumpkin
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
Olive oil

The whole pumkins get topped and scooped of thier seeds and stringy stuff, brushed with olive oil and warmed in the oven (along with the garlic baggettes) and they become the soup bowls. Really easy and they make a very surprising presentation.

In a 4 quart sauce pan melt the butter and add the minced garlic and onion and cook for a few minutes until softened. Add dry spices and stir about 1 minute. Add canned pumpkin and broth, blending well. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add milk and stir until heated through.

While the soup simmered I put the pumkins, thier tops and the garlic baggette in the oven and mixed the salad, set the table and poured the wine.

We had the soup straight up, with a side of spring mix salad and garlic roasted baggette. But the article suggests ladling it over seared scallops or wild mushroom ravioli, or surrounding a broiled salmon. All, YUM! It would also be very good with some croutons thrown in.