Pumpkin Soup

Here is a conversion of a recipe I found online. I had to mess around with it because I lacked a few of the ingredients. The original is here: http://www.fatfree.com/recipes/soups/pumpkin-soup

Ingredients

• 15 oz cooked pumpkin puree (1 can)
  
• 10 oz water or vegetable broth
• Juice of 1 orange (just under 1/2 cup)
  
• 2.5 oz dry sherry or apple juice
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt

Preparation

1. Puree cooked or canned pumpkin, vegetable broth and orange juice in blender or food processor. Set aside
2. In a large soup pot, heat sherry or apple juice over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery and garlic and sauté until soft but not browned, about 10 minutes. Add spices; cook, stirring, 3 minutes. Add pumpkin mixture and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat; transfer 1 cup of soup to a small bowl and stir in yogurt. Return to pot and blend well.

Notes

1. Overall, this was pretty good. I did everything but the yogurt step before going to class and reheated the whole thing with the yogurt when we got back. Great texture, but a little much on some of the spices (and I really like all the spices)
2. I used the apple juice, and it was good, but I think the sherry would be really good for next time.
   
3. The cardamom was way too strong. The original recipe may have been calling for pre-ground, and I did mine from pods. 1/4 tsp may be more appropriate next time.
4. The little chunks of onion and celery were appealing, but I think that I will run the garlic, onion and celery (maybe carrot) through the food processor first next time.
5. This was meant to be a fat-free recipe, and it was good, but I think a bit of butter was what this needed. So, the first step should be to soften the veggies in butter, then deglaze with sherry or juice. Then everything else is the same.
6. The chicken broth was fine, and is what I had on hand, but maybe doing it with water next time would be good. For nothing else, just to see if it had a better taste.