Spicy Pumpkin Soup

from Simply Recipes

Ingredients
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/8 c. chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch crushed red pepper or paprika
1 tsp. curry powder
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
3 c. pumpkin (I used 1 c. leftover Libby's and 2 c. from a whole pumpkin*)
2-2 1/2 c. veggie broth (I used 1 bouillon cube and 2 1/2 c. water)
1 1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. sugar

Directions

1 Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 2-4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.

2 Add pumpkin and broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

3 Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan.

4 With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Adjust seasonings to taste. If a little too spicy, add more milk to cool it down. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.

At first I thought this would be too spicy and savory, and not sweet enough, but it was perfect. It was just sweet enough, with a kind of warm and lightly spicy aftertaste. And it was an extremely easy recipe. I'd say the hardest part was cutting the pumpkin in half (or maybe blending the soup in batches -- but, er, Silver did that, not me).

It's also very, very good with some toasted pumpkin seeds (salted, shells on!)

*To make pumpkin purée, cut a sugar pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a parchment-paper-lined baking pan. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Elise at Simply Recipes recommends freezing any extra, but pumpkin is also easy to find a quick and tasty use for (like a pumpkin roll, mmm...).