Recipe: Pumpkin Soup

Hello my fellow pumpkin lovers!  I have one of my favorite fall recipes to share with you today.  I make it every year around October and so far, I've made it twice this year.  This was also my husband's request for his first home-cooked meal after coming home from training.

Pumpkin Soup

1 pkg Italian sausage (I use mild)
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 cup chopped white button mushrooms
15oz can pure pumpkin puree
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup water

Remove the sausage links from their casings and brown the sausage in a large pot, breaking it up as it browns (I use a Dutch oven and it's perfect).  Add the onion, garlic powder and Italian seasoning; sautee for a few minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook for about 3-4 minutes.  Add pumpkin and broth; stir, scraping the yummy brown bits from the bottom.  Turn heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes (make sure there's still a rolling boil).

Add cream and water, season with a little salt and pepper.  I sprinkle a little fresh shredded parmesan cheese on top.  If the soup is really liquid-ey, you can add a little rue to help thicken it.

*Rue: in a small pan, melt 2 tbsp butter and add 2 tbsp all-purpose flour and stir until solid.  Add a little of the soup to the rue pan to temper it until it's creamy and add it all back to the soup.  Stir in to thicken up.

You can either blend this soup in a blender or with an immersion blender or keep it chunky.  It's great either way!  I prefer to keep it chunky.

If you try this recipe out, please leave me a comment and let me know how you like it!  Enjoy!