Southwestern Pumpkin & Roasted Pepper Soup

This slightly spicy soup was warm and cozy on this cold winter night. My husband (and two out of three kids) gave it a big thumbs up! Very yummy!!!

This recipe comes from that culinary genius over at Cafe Sucre Farine. Please check out her blog- everything this woman makes is pure gold!

Here is her recipe word-for-word:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large shallots, halved
1 large onion, quartered
1 small jalapeño, seeded and halved
4 large carrots, cut in approximately 1 inch slices
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling, that has sugar and spices added)
1 12-ounce jar roasted red peppers
1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt or, to taste
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
salted, hulled pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
finely sliced fresh cilantro stems

Preheat oven to 450˚F. Lightly oil or spray a sheet pan with cooking spray.

Combine cumin, coriander, chili powder, brown sugar and salt in a small bowl.

Combine onion, shallots, carrots and jalapeño in a medium size bowl. Drizzle olive oil over veggies and stir to coat. Add spice mixture and stir again, till well coated.

Transfer veggie mixture to prepared pan, being careful to scrape all the spices and oil out of the bowl.

Place in oven and roast for 10 minutes. Stir and re-distribute veggies to a single layer. Roast for another 10 minutes or until beginning to brown.

While veggies are roasting, combine pumpkin puree, roasted red peppers, coconut milk, chicken broth, oregano and salt in a large dutch oven. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. When veggies are finished roasting, transfer them to the dutch oven.

Return soup to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Puree mixture in a regular blender** or use an immersion blender right in the pot. Puree till smooth and silky.

Garnish with pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds) and finely chopped cilantro stems*

Notes:
~ * Cilantro stems are edible and are actually the most flavor-packed part of the plant! They also give a nice little crunch as a soup topping.
~ ** If you use a regular blender, allow soup to cool a bit. then puree it in batches, otherwise you'll have a huge mess when you turn the blender on. I use a immersion blender (also known as a stick blender) for soups and lots of other things. They are very inexpensive and save a lot of time.