Curried Pumpkin Soup with Maple Onions and Bacon

Hello,

I got this note from Mary today about a new soup.  She said she was reporting back as in "I made this.  Used half a package of bacon instead of just 4 slices.  Made it all in one pot and pureed the whole thing instead of serving the onion bacon mix on top.  Super yummy."

I leave you to decide for yourselves on that point.  Reading the recipe made my mouth water.  Mary also said it was 30 below there in Ottawa.  That made me feel a bit guilty since Janet helped me shovel the deck today and the weather was hovering around zero.  Recipe follows below.

Curried Pumpkin Soup with Maple Onions and Bacon

Ingredients

• 4 slices of bacon
• 2 large onions, one thinly sliced and the other finely minced
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 15-ounce can unsweetened, unseasoned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix!)
• 1-2 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
• 1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced
• Juice of 1 large orange
• 3 cups water, stock or milk of your choice (I prefer almond milk)
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

1.    Add bacon to a medium frying pan and cook over medium heat until bacon is crispy. Remove bacon from frying pan and set aside. When it is cool enough to handle, crumble into smaller pieces. Drain all but 4 tablespoons of bacon fat from the pan.

2.    Add sliced onions to the pan with the bacon fat and cook till very soft and lightly browned, about 5 or 6 minutes. Add the maple syrup and ginger, reduce heat to medium low and continue cooking, stirring often, until the onions are thick and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Stir in crumbled bacon and set aside.

3.    Meanwhile, in a large soup pot over medium high heat, combine couple of tbsp of oil and the remaining finely minced onion, the curry powder, red pepper flakes and the apple. Sauté until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes

4.    Mix in the pumpkin and orange juice, then transfer everything in the soup pot to a food processor or blender. Add the milk or water and puree until smooth

5.    Return the soup to the pot and bring to a gentle simmer. Season generously with salt and pepper

6.    To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and top with caramelized onions.