Pumpkin Chile Soup

Hard to believe 3 days ago it was 106 and very humid here.  This morning it is barely 70 and a light rain falling.  Not exactly cool fall weather according to the rule books for the rest of the country, but what the heck this is LA and I'll take it.

The start of cool fall days means soup and fresh baked bread.  Today I did both.  I cheated on the bread...Pumpernickel in the trusty old bread machine.  The soup is totally from scratch.  Yes, even the pumpkin is from scratch that I canned from last years Jack-o-lanterns and this is the end of the supply.  

Soups are a pretty easy throw together once you have a few recipes under your be.t.  Canned broth is my favorite cheat and it saves some cooking time in the process.  Today I decided I wanted something a little different so I opted for a sweet/savory version of Pumpkin Soup which in itself as a variation of Butternut Squash soup I came up with a while back.  The  green chile part was taken as I didn't have any bell peppers floating around.  It works now the soup has more of a southwesty type flavor.

Pumpkin Chile Soup

• 2 medium yellow onions
  
• 2 T chopped garlic
  
• 1 t thyme
  
• 1 t fresh sage
  
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
  
• 1/4 t ground cumin
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg
• 2T Olive oil
  
• 1T butter
  
• 2 C pumpkin puree
  
• 1 can (7 oz) green chiles
  
• 2 cans (14 oz) low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
  

Dice onion.  In large stock pot heat butter and add onion when the butter begins to sizzle.  Add salt, pepper to taste. Add sage and thyme.  Cook over medium heat stirring often until onions are clear and beginning to caramelize (about 10 minutes).  Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.

Transfer onions to blender.  Add can of chiles, do not drain.  Blend on high slowing adding chicken stock until only tiny bits of onion remain.  Return to pan, add pumpkin, cayenne pepper, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg and stir in until uniform.  Simmer 20 minutes.  Check salt and pepper before serving. 

Serve with warm bread, green salad and you are in cool weather heaven.  

Using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth will give you a vegetarian soup which is equally tasty.