Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

Halloween looms [Ed. note: OoooOoOooOooo], and I love making this soup every October. Recently, the BF and I had a good friend over for dinner, and she specifically requested it. I served biscuits with jalapeno butter, a crispy green salad, and various soup toppings for everyone to add what they like. 

If you're familiar with the blog, you know I don't like super thick, heavy soups, so I lightened this up to my liking. The recipe also calls for ham, which I left out. Usually I prepare this vegetarian, but this time included crispy pancetta as a topping. You can leave it out, of course.

The pumpkin is really a nice background flavor. Key word is "background," as both the BF and guest did not realize pumpkin was one of the main ingredients. 

Speaking of ingredients, I made a ton of changes to the original recipe:

• Left the majority of beans whole. 
• Added one more cup of broth, to make it lighter. If you prefer a thicker soup, don't add it.
• Subbed pancetta for ham and only used it as topping. Did not add meat back in the soup as our guest does not eat pork or red meat. 
• Subbed chicken broth for beef broth, only because our guest does not eat red meat.
• Cut back on the butter.
• Replaced onion with shallots.
• ​Nixed the sherry vinegar at the end.
• Added cayenne pepper. It will not be too spicy. It's just a little kick.

My favorite stress-free kind of dinner party.

[Ed. note: Chef Jacquie loves her Halloween. How much? ↓↓↓]

​A very vintage Steiner Halloween (Portland, 1966).

Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen
Number of servings: 9 cups, approximately 6 servings

Ingredients

• ½ pound pancetta, diced small (you can find diced pancetta in your grocery store)
• Three 15 ½ ounce cans black beans (about 4 ½ cups), rinsed and drained
• 1 ¼ cup canned diced tomatoes
• 2 cups shallots, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (if you're heat averse, use less)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cups beef, chicken or vegetable broth (Add one more cup broth if you like a brothier soup like I do)
• One 16-ounce can pumpkin puree (about 1 ½ cups)
• ½ cup dry Sherry

Topping Suggestions

• Crispy pancetta
• Avocado, chopped
• Sour cream
• Jalapeno, Fresno or Serrano peppers, thinly sliced
• Scallions, thinly sliced
• Pumpkin seeds
• Cilantro leaves
• Shredded cheddar or jack cheese
• Corn or tortilla chips

Directions

1. In a food processor, coarsely puree ¾ cup black beans and 1 ¼ cup diced tomatoes.
2. In a 6-quart heavy pot, cook the pancetta (if using) until slightly crispy, rendering out most of the fat. With a slotted spoon, remove pancetta, place on plate and set aside. Pour the rendered fat out and wipe pot with a paper towel.
3. Place pot back on burner. Heat butter and extra virgin olive oil until shimmering. Throw in shallots, garlic, cumin, salt, and cayenne. Cook over moderate heat, stirring until shallots are softened and beginning to brown.
4. Stir in beans and tomato puree.
5. Stir in broth, pumpkin, Sherry, and the rest of the whole black beans, until combined. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
6. Season soup with salt and pepper.
7. Serve soup garnished with toppings of your choice.

Soon. The guest blogger returns.