Perfect Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin-pecan oatmeal, pumpkin beer, pumpkin spice cheese; pumpkin chocolate, butter, and ice cream, oh my! As overwhelming as it can be, I still find myself caught up in the excitement. For example, upon visiting my favorite Mexican restaurant I saw a pumpkin recipe I had never heard of before: pumpkin chorizo soup. I like pumpkin, I like chorizo, and with the weather cooling down I certainly like soup. So, it was off to the pumpkin races I went (quite happily I might add)!

If you don’t know what chorizo is, it’s a type of Spanish sausage that packs a bit of a punch. It gets its smokiness, red color and spicy flavor from dried smoked red peppers. It’s really quite a lovely addition to many dishes so the idea of smoky, spicy chorizo and creamy, sweet pumpkin soup had my mouth watering (or wondering?).

I used the Perfect Pumpkin Soup recipe from The Old Farmer’s Almanac Garden Fresh Cookbook. I took their advice (as I usually do) and used an adorable little sugar pumpkin. It was so fun using up that whole pumpkin and I got roasted pumpkin seeds out of it as well! I would recommend checking out advice on cutting up a pumpkin though since they can be rather tricky.

The soup itself was everything it promised to be: perfect. Velvety and bursting with fresh pumpkin flavor, I couldn’t have been happier about the effort I put into cutting that pumpkin up. The addition of the chorizo was nice, and I can certainly see the potential, but it was a tad bit overpowering. Once I added the chorizo I lost a lot of that wonderful pumpkin flavor through the spice and smokiness of the sausage. I added 2 links of chorizo so perhaps a bit less would make for a lovely combination.

On the bright side, the beauty of using this Perfect Pumpkin Soup recipe is that you know it’s a perfect base for whatever you might want to add! Some fun suggestions: blue cheese and walnuts; sage; chocolate and chipotle; or bacon. The list goes on and on so be creative or just stick with what really is the Perfect Pumpkin Soup recipe!

I couldn’t help myself.

Sugar pumpkin! Look at all that goodness

After much trial and error I managed to get that baby pumpkin peeled and chopped. It was definitely a learning process

Pumpkin chorizo soup!

Pumpkin chorizo soup and winter panzanella? Yes, please!

Perfect Pumpkin Soup

The Garden Fresh Cookbook, page 58

 5 cups chicken broth

2 pounds pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup chopped onion

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon mace

½ teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups light cream or evaporated skim milk

1/8 cup dry sherry

Croutons, for garnish

Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

In a large saucepan, warm the broth over medium heat. Add the pumpkin and onion and bring the liquid to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender. Add the nutmeg, allspice, mace, and thyme in the last 5 minutes of cooking. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool. In a blender or food processor, puree the mixture until smooth, in batches. Return the soup to the pan and add the light cream and sherry, stirring to incorporate. Heat the soup thoroughly, stirring constantly so that it does not come to a full boil. Garnish with croutons and chopped parsley. Makes 8 servings