Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

It is most definitely soup season. And though I haven't started making daily visits to Panera yet, I have started to make a superlong list of soup recipes to try. Ginger carrot, cashew chili, African peanut stew, sausage bean chowder, broccoli cheddar ale, etc., etc.

Also on my to-do list (because I love, love, love to-do lists) was to make my own pumpkin puree. Why should Libbys, Libbys, Libbys think they know everything around this time of year? You roast a pumpkin, like any kind of squash, and then you puree the insides. Done and done. Look for sugar pumpkins (smaller than a jack-o-lantern, but bigger than those little tabletop centerpieces). It should be easy to figure out the right size because it's all that will fit on most pans. When in doubt, ask for ones used for baking pies. Halve the pumpkin with a great big knife. Don't worry about the stem, it can stay. Clean out the gunk and the seeds (don't forget you can roast the seeds later). Place the two halves cut-side down on the pan. Roast on high heat (400 or more) for 20 minutes or so. Just keep an eye on it and you can see when the outside starts to look leathery and brown like a basktball. You'll also start to smell a lovely pumpkin fragrance. Fall is up in your kitchen!

So once the pumpkin's cool (or not if you're like me and enjoy charred fingertips) you can just peel off the skin, with the stem, and pop all the good parts in your food processor. Blend until baby food. Now you've got pumpkin puree to do whatever you please.

As for me, I used this recipe as the basis to make pumpkin black bean soup. Yes, I know it's Rachel Ray but so many other recipes had sherry and cream and ham hocks and a bunch of other stuff I wasn't into. My approach was sweat some onions and garlic, add Rohrbach's Oktoberfest beer, dump in some black beans (and black bean puree) and the pumpkin puree, then thin it down with chicken stock. Spice it up with cumin, cinnamon, Adobo, etc.

We did a lot of finagling with our soup to try to keep in thinner and we used green bell peppers with the onions to start, and then added serranos instead of chipotles later. Why? Because that's what the pepper lady at the Farmers Market had that we liked. We also added in some hickory smoked bacon because we were using it that night for another dish. And what could possibly be wrong with adding a little bacon? Am I right? I thought so.