Pumpkin Soup

Last week I was inspired by the coming of November and a delicious cup of soup that a coworker brought to work. At first the creamy peach hue inside the stockpot on the break room table had me hesitant, but the smell coming out of it had me intrigued, and of course after one sip, it had me hooked. I asked for the recipe made a few tweaks to add a couple more veggies and started on my own version the following day. Below is the original recipe with my tweak connotations in parentheses.

PUMPKIN SOUP
1 cup butter
1 large onion, chopped
(6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed)
(1 handful of Italian parsley, rough chopped)
4 stalks celery, chopped
(2 carrots, peeled and chopped)
(2 medium potatoes, skins intact and chopped)
1 cup flour
6 cups chicken broth (I used 1 carton broth and 16 cubes [roughly 2 cups] of my homemade stock)
1 29oz can of pumpkin puree, I recommend Libby's
1 cup apple juice
3 cups milk (I used 2 1/2 cups milk and 1/2 cup cream for extra richness)
Salt, pepper and thyme to taste

Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium high heat and saute onion, celery, garlic, parsley and carrots until softened and translucent. Add flour and mix well to create your roux. Slowly stir in broth until smooth, add potatoes and apple juice and bring to slow rolling boil. Add pumpkin and return to slow boil. When potatoes are tender, using a hand blender, mix until smooth and little to no lumps remain. I use my Vita-Mix in batches, but anything would work. Return soup to heat, add milk (or cream), salt, pepper and thyme and continue to cook over low heat until ready to serve.

I honestly think this would be a great appetizer before Thanksgiving dinner, and even more adorable served in baby pumpkin bowls.

Garnish with croutons, pumpkin seeds and a sprig of parsley. Enjoy!

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