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Dinner : Pumpkin and Corn Soup


This is so simple and quick.  Ideal for a chilly evening.

In a large, heavy pot, sautee a few handfuls of diced onion, carrot and celery, and a couple of minced garlic cloves, with a few sprigs of thyme.  Keep track of how many thyme sprigs you put in, since you'll need to fish them out later on.  When the vegetables have softened, add 2 or 3 cups of diced pumpkin, preferably the West Indian variety (sometimes called calabaza in North American markets), and pour in some stock, or water to just cover the vegetables.  Add salt to taste.

Cover and simmer until the pumpkin is soft.  If the mixture becomes too dry, add more water or stock, being careful to only just cover the vegetables, since you don't want the finished product to be too runny.  Remove the sprigs of thyme and puree the soup with a stick blender, or in a regular blender until smooth.  Add a bag of frozen corn kernels to the soup and continue to cook until the corn is heated through.  Serve with some crusty bread.

Notes:
You can add a dash of your favourite hot pepper sauce near the end of cooking to spice things up a bit.
If you don't have a stick blender, or any blender for that matter, it's perfectly fine to have this soup chunky.
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