Pumpkin Soup

People in England don't eat nearly as much squash as we do. When my dear friend from London comes over, I seem to always have a new squash dish for him. This time, I made a vegetarian roasted pumpkin soup, which was a warm welcome for him after a day of travel. Our holiday pumpkin, which we didn't carve for Hallowe'en because we were out of town, had been on the table for at least two weeks--and it worked great. I even made a batch of agave-ginger pumpkin seeds to nosh on as well. Here's the pumpkin soup recipe I used:

Pumpkin Soup

2 tablespoon olive oil to saute the vegetables.
2 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 Cloves Garlic
1 2-pound pumpkin peeled, seeded, quartered, roasted, and then chopped up (about 6 cups)
6 cups (or more) vegetable stock

Quarter your pumpkin, spray with olive oil, and season with your favorite spice mixture. I used cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and paprika. Roast at about 400 until the flesh of the pumpkin is tender. Saute the carrots, celery, onion and garlic about 8 minutes just until it starts to show some browning. Add the chopped-up roasted pumpkin and the stock, and some red pepper flaks and turmeric for color and spice. Simmer until the mixture is quite mushy. Allow the mixture to ccool slightly and then puree in a blender until very smooth. Finish with 1 cup of heavy cream.

Garnish with chopped cilantro, toasted pepitas, a dollop of sour cream (or labne), and some specks of sriracha sauce if you like it spicy.