Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin seed pirates! (Whoever said not to play with your food should rethink their stance.)

I have too much time on my hands

I originally found this tasty recipe from smittenkitchen.com, and have tweaked it a bit to suit my tastes (I’m a big fan of the butternut). This seems like a great base, on top of which you can add any type of squash. I used a pumpkin I had gotten in upstate NY to add a (very) fresh pumpkin taste and to make a pumpkin seed garnish. It’s time- consuming to get the innards and seeds out of a pumpkin, but you get to carve it afterwards, so it’s all worth it!

Black Bean Pumpkin (and squash) Soup:

Yields about 10 cups

• One 15 ½ oz can black beans (the recipe at smittenkitchen calls for three, but I wanted my soup heavy on the squash)
• 1 cup drained canned tomatoes, chopped
• 1 onion
• ½ cup minced shallot
• 4 garlic cloves minced (to ward off those pesky vampires)
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper (more to taste)
• ½ stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• One package of fresh pre-cut squash or one 16oz can of squash
• 4 cups beef broth (I used veggie broth because I rarely, if ever, eat anything with meat in it. You could conceivably use any broth you’d like)
• A 16 oz can of pumpkin puree (1 ½ cups) à here I used pumpkin from the one I had already carved out

**Smittenkitchen’s version calls for ½ pound cooked ham, which I did not add. It also calls for Sherry and Sherry vinegar, which I also omitted. Check out the original recipe here if you’re more adventurous than I.**

1. Cook pumpkin seeds in whatever manner you’re used to (I just throw them on a greased cookie sheet with a ton of salt and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.)

2. Cook squash in boiling water until tender.

3. In a food processor or blender puree beans and tomatoes; set aside. If you’re using fresh pumpkin, puree and add to bean mixture. Once squash is done cooking, puree it in a blender and set aside.

4. In a large pot or kettle, cook onion, shallot, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper in butter over moderate heat, stirring until the onion is softened and starting to brown.

4 1/2. Stir in bean puree, pumpkin, squash, and broth until combined and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

5. Ladle soup into bowl(s). Garnish with pumpkin seeds, diced apples, and/or pistachios (the pistachios worked perfectly with the soup, an idea I got from a vendor at the local Greenmarket). Season with salt & pepper.

Enjoy!