Every fall I feel like our local grocery stores have a canned pumpkin shortage. I have to DIG through different aisles to find it. Will I find it with the canned vegetables? Or will I find it in the baking aisle with the pie fillings? Will they have the PLAIN puree? Or the pumpkin pie filling that has the spice already in it? Beware of this one, because if you add this to your chili, it will be ruined. Learn from my mistakes.
Since I always struggle with finding canned pumpkin when I want it, I stock up when I can. Last week I was literally on the floor moving all the pie filling cans around so that I could buy 4 cans of plain pumpkin puree. So far I have used it for pumpkin muffins, pumpkin chili, and now this soup.
Now, let me tell you about this soup. It is super fast, one pot (especially if you use an immersion blender), and a crowd pleaser! Both of my kids LOVED it, and my youngest ate 3 bowls of it in one sitting. Its a great soup for Meatless Monday because it so thick and filling. I used chicken broth, but you can use water or vegetable broth if you want a vegetarian/vegan version. Its dairy free, gluten free, and just plain delicious.
If you don’t have an immersion blender, go get one. It is a serious game changer! I’ve made sauces, soups, salsas, mayos and aoilis with mine. It makes everything so much smoother than my blender and the cleanup is so much easier! I have a pretty cheap immersion blender that I think is on its last days, so this is the one I am putting on my Christmas list this year (affliate link):
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 4 cups water or broth
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Pumpkin seeds for garnish, optional
Steps:
- Heat large pot over medium heat and add olive oil to hot pan.
- Saute onion until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic, salt, pepper, and curry powder. Cook for another minute.
- Stir in pumpkin puree.
- Add broth or water and stir until everything is combined.
- Add cauliflower florets. Increase heat and bring everything up to a boil. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes (reduce heat a bit to avoid a bubbling cauldron).
- Once the cauliflower is fork tender, remove the pot from the heat and puree. I like using my immersion blender, but you can do it in a regular blender as well. Just be careful when blending hot liquids!
- Blend until smooth, add lemon juice, and taste to see if more salt is needed.
- Enjoy! Garnish with pumpkin seeds if you want this soup to look extra fancy 馃槈
