Happy Halloween! Simple, Creamy Pumpkin Soup Recipe

I am not a big fan of Halloween, the novelty wore off a few years ago.  Plus, I can buy candy at the store any time of year and if I want to see dressed up freaks all I have to do is visit the local bar any time of the year.  But Halloween does bring some joy...in the form of pumpkins!  Every year I look forward to buying fresh pumpkin and adding it to a variety of recipes as canned pumpkin just isn't as good.

About 10 years ago I made a trip to Sylvan Lake, AB and stopped in at a restaurant and ordered the pumpkin soup around Halloween.  It was likely the best soup I have ever tasted (and I'm not much for soup in the first place).  I knew I had to replicate it!  So for the last 10 years I've been buying a pumpkin just so I can make this delicious soup.  Because I made it from scratch and came up with my own recipe, I've never had any formal directions.  Today I decided to measure everything and come up with a formal recipe.  The recipe serves ~8 people.

Preparations:

This recipe requires 1/2 of a medium sized pumpkin hollowed, skinned and cut up into cubes.  The remaining half of the pumpkin can be frozen to make another batch of soup at a later time or can be used in other recipes such as pancakes and cookies. 

Ingredients:

- 1/2 a pumpkin cubed, skinned and hollowed
- 1/4 of a large white onion
- 2 1/2 cups of vegetable broth
- 3 Tbsp of vegetable broth (for onion puree)
- 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt

Directions:

Start by boiling water in a pot large enough for all of the cubed pumpkin pieces.  Once water is boiling, add the pumpkin and reduce heat to medium.  Cook pumpkin until extremely tender, around 20-25 minutes.

While the pumpkin is cooking, dice up 1/4 of a large white onion and place it in a food processor with 3 Tbsp of the vegetable broth.  Blend until the mixture is a puree with no chunks.  This should yield around 3/4 cup of onion puree.

After pumpkin is done cooking, pour through a strainer and place in a large bowl to cool for 5 minutes.  Because my food processor is not large enough to puree everything at once, I split the pumpkin into 2 batches to puree.  Add half of the cooked pumpkin in a food processor along with half of the broth and half of the onion puree.  Once mixture is smooth, pour into a large pot and puree the remaining half of the pumpkin, broth and onion puree and add to pot.

Turn the oven on low and slowly whisk in the 1/2 cup of mayonnaise and garlic salt.  It may take a few minutes to fully whisk in the mayonnaise.  Cook soup over low for 10 minutes stirring often.  Best served fresh but can be refrigerated and reheated on the stove.  If the soup is too creamy for your taste, more broth can be added.