Spicy Pumpkin and Sausage Soup

Dan    Recipes, Soups     awesome, Dan Clapson, pumpkin, recipes, sausage, soup, winter

What you’ll need…

3 cups fresh pumpkin (1″ cubed)

2 large Italian sausages (casing removed, and Spolumbo’s of course!)

1/2 cup dry red wine

1 yellow onion (finely chopped)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups zucchini (halved, 1/2″ sliced)

3 cups kale (stems removed, loosely chopped)

1 14 oz can chickpeas

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 TBSP red wine vinegar

2 TSP lemon juice

1 TSP chili powder

salt and pepper

olive oil

Once snow appears on the ground and sticks around for awhile, I get a little soup crazy. Not like ‘Soup Nazi’ crazy, but just mildly obsessed with making soup at home. When I had Julie van Rosendaal pop by my Start From Scratch class a few weeks ago (to make Dill Pickle Soup, neat hey?), she reminded me just how much flavour some quality sausage can add to a pot of soup. The spicy, Italian sausage adds a nice heat to this hearty pumpkin, and veg-heavy, bowl of goodness. Best enjoyed with friends.

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Thanksgiving with the Monday Night Supper Club

Dan    Monday Night Supper Club     #yycMNSC, pumpkin, supper club, thanksgiving

Guest post by Chelsea Klukas, @chelscore

Last week the Monday Night Supper Club hosted a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays: there’s no stress of gift giving, no time-consuming costume preparation, and no religious or somber overtones. It’s the time to celebrate a good harvest (admittedly I’ve never seen Co-op have a bad harvest), good food, and to be thankful for our friends and family.

Dan hosted nearly 20 people in his home, miraculously managing to give everyone space to prepare food and eat. The dishes included traditional Thanksgiving fare like potatoes, green beans, and cranberry sauce. Guests also experimented with  unconventional dishes including Ashley K’s pumpkin risotto, Lori A’s Mexican soup, and Jacqueline T’s devilled eggs. The main course was a giant turducken prepared by Dan, providing enough meat to feed the entire group with leftovers. A vegetarian alternative of Tofurkey was served with vegan gravy. While not as popular as the Turducken, the tofurkey was surprisingly flavourful and was deemed “not bad” by meat enthusiasts.

The #yycMNSC crew eating and tweeting.

The meal concluded with a number of pies, including pear-berry and pumpkin pie from Jacinthe K. Finding room for dessert after gorging on eight servings of carbs took determination, but the pies were well worth it.

My personal thankful list: great friends, stretchy pants, and a reason to look forward to Mondays.

Pie (left), Caitlin Power (centre), and everyone’s favourite thanksgiving dish (right).

Participants:

Dan C @dansgoodside : Turducken and homemade cranberry sauce
Chelsea K @chelscore: Tofurkey with vegan gravy
Sarah W @frecklesandash: Gluten-free stuffing made with wild rice
Brie B @brie_elise: Onion casserole
Lori A @designertweets: Spicy Mexican chicken soup
Rob M @rjmcleod : Stuffing/dressing
Jacqueline T: @jacquelintetyler: Devilled eggs
Ashley K @petitegourmet: Creamy pumpkin risotto with marscapone cheese
Drew B @dbeatsbeets: Bread
Jacinthe K @jacinthekoddo: A pear berry pie and a pumpkin pie
Jamie P @jamiepenno: Wine
Tym A @tymarmstrong : Roasted rosemary potatoes and yams
Vincci T @VincciT: Sweet potatoes with spiced maple pecans
Caitlin P @caitlin_power : Cheese and crackers

Dan c’s homemade cranberry sauce (left) and Brie B (right).