Mesa Grill's Pumpkin Soup

I look forward to checking out Foodbuzz's Daily Top 9. One of those days I came across this recipe for Mesa Grill's Pumpkin Soup from Kelsey's blog over at Apple A Day through Foodbuzz. Her photo of the soup was crave worthy. A scan of the ingredients list had me giddy considering the fact that all of the items were on hand and one more meal was able to be added to the roster of meals to make to eat up what we have on hand. Please check out her blog to see the beauty that is of this pumpkin soup and how it really should have turned out. A key ingredient of mine ended up being rancid and did not make it's way into the dish.

While making my Rosemary Focaccia I set to making this soup. It has been on my mind for two days now and the orange gourd sitting in the window as a decoration of the month of October and November had seen the end of it's days. I mean come on... don't pumpkin dishes kind of lose their seasonal charm after all of the Thanksgiving leftovers have been consumed?

Never having roasted a pumpkin or any other squash I had no idea how. After a quick search on the good ol' Internet and a pictorial I was on my way to fresh not from a can pumpkin puree sans food processor just elbow grease and a fork. Okay so it didn't turn out smooth but it still tasted incredible and I can look past the chunks of pumpkin.

The real issue came when it was time to add the sour cream. Just the day before my container of sour cream looked and smelt fresh. Upon opening the container lid my stomach started to turn and I threw it away. No other creams on hand I felt stiffed out of the full experience of what this dish had in store.

What I ended up with was a spicy pumpkin soup with a broth base. It was still incredibly flavorful. In a text to my mom, "but it burns so good", is how I described the soup. Nothing a glass of milk couldn't tame. Next time I'll be sure to make sure the sour cream is fresh in order to help cut the heat from the chipotle pepper. You have to see the real deal to see how this should look and be garnished with. Absolutely beautiful with it's vibrant orange color compared to my murky brown color. My color came from the fact that I used the full amount of chicken broth before making measuring out how much pumpkin puree I had.

Nonetheless this was absolutely delicious and will need a redo in my kitchen so I can get it right! Another inquiry I have to all of my fellow food bloggers who turn out incredible photography... what kind of camera should I tell Mr. Sideline Chef Santa he needs to bring me? This little Kodak point and shoot isn't doing the job of providing good enough food porn. Thank you in advance for the tips and ideas!

I'm not going to post the recipe on my blog. I would rather you head on over to Kelsey's Apple A Day Blog and get the recipe from there and check out her photography. I can't stress it enough. This is why she made Foodbuzz's Daily Top 9! Really? Why are you still on my page? Haha!