It was the first snowfall of the season today and the temperature was minus 12C with the windchill, so I decided to make a spicy soup that would warm us up! The pumpkin and orange sweet peppers make a beautifully coloured soup. Soak it up with some fresh artisan bread or just use some fresh multi-grain. This makes two large bowls of soup, but the recipe can easily be doubled. If you find that the soup is too thick, you can thin it with some more of the chicken or veggie broth, or even water.
Ingredients:
-2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
-1 large sweet onion (I used vidalia), chopped
-2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
-1 cup of canned pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
-1 sweet orange bell pepper, seed and thinly sliced
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
-1 tsp dried red hot chili peppers
-1 tsp picante hot sauce
Directions:
1. Add oil to a medium skillet. Heat over medium high and saute sweet peppers until soft. Stir in chopped onion and saute until soft. Stir in chopped garlic and saute for 2 minutes.
2. In a medium sized saucepan, combine the broth, onions, sweet peppers, garlic, pumpkin, salt, ground pepper, chili peppers and picante hot sauce. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Pour soup carefully into food processor and puree until fairly smooth. Pour back into saucepan and cook on low, covered, for another 15 minutes. Serve hot with fresh bread.
