Creamy Pumpkin Chipotle Soup

So, I've been MIA for a few days almost a week. I've been fretting about getting and then having my wisdom teeth extracted. All four of them. At the same time. I probably could have posted the sorts of things I've been eating for the past few days, but it's been mostly mashed sweet potatoes, avocado, yogurt, Naked juice smoothies, and blood orange sorbet bars. And trying to get D to make me one of these (even though I can't use a straw). The good news is, this morning I ate my first non-mashed food (soft scrambled eggs with avocado and cheese). And tonight I'm having soup.

So, I did get my first winter CSA distribution on Saturday. D went and picked it up for me, while I sat on the couch whining about being hungry and crying a little bit because my face was pear-shaped. It turns out that the "Full Share"--which was supposed to be 3-5 lbs of storage vegetables plus cooking greens (as the weather allows)--is about 8 lbs of storage vegetables. And nearly 2 lbs of broccoli. It's not terrible...half of this is about what I was getting per week toward the end of the regular CSA season and this is for two weeks, but still a lot of food. More than I was expecting, since they described it as 3-5 lbs of storage vegetables.

Here's what I got:
2 lbs of broccoli
2 teeny tiny heads of red cabbage (really tiny--I could probably turn one into a full-meal salad without a problem)
1 pie pumpkin
sweet potatoes
carrots
one bunch of harukei turnips
frozen tomato puree
2 leeks
4 heads of garlic
1 dozen eggs (laid just for me by
1 16 oz vanilla yogurt
1 8 oz Greek yogurt
marinated mozarella curds
a cheddar-like cheese called "Revival"

It's  a  lot, but it is for two weeks. I'll be ok (but if you want to come over for dinner, join us for Thanksgiving, or adopt some broccoli, let me know...)

Anyway, I used a portion of the pie pumpkin to make this soup and am saving the rest of it for Thursday when I'll be making some pumpkin risotto (or making risotto for those of us who aren't pumpkin fans and then adding it after the risotto is finished cooking) for Thanksgiving. Since the recipe called for one medium winter squash, I used about 2/3 of the squash and a couple of small sweet potatoes. It worked out pretty well. Also, the original recipe called for swirling some chipotle salsa or sauce into each bowl. I decided that this seemed a little fussy (especially if I'm planning to bring the leftovers to work for lunch), so I just put it all in the pot. I also didn't have any onions, so I used a leek.

This soup actually looked delicious before I pureed it. You can skip the milk/cream and leave it chunky. Maybe add some fried tortilla strips to the top--pumpkin tortilla soup?

Creamy Pumpkin Chipotle Soup
Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian


1 medium sugar pumpkin (or other winter squash...or 2/3 of the squash and 2 smallish sweet potatoes), peeled and cut into 1" chunks
3 T butter or grape seed oil
1 leek, well washed and chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 chipotle chili with a bit of adobo sauce, chopped
5 c vegetable broth
1/2 c mild salsa
2/3 c milk or cream or soy milk
1 avocado, cut into small chunks
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the leeks, garlic and chipotle chili and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the leek is completely softened.

Add the pumpkin and stir to coat. Add the vegetable broth and salsa and increase the heat to high. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer, partially covered until the pumpkin is softened (this took about 20 minutes).

Remove from heat and allow the soup to cool a bit. Puree in a blender in batches, or in the pot with an immersion blender. Return to the pot, add the milk or cream and heat gently. Ladle into bowls and top each serving with a bit of avocado.

Serves 4-6