Roasted Pumpkin (Acorn Squash) Soup with 3 cheese tortellini

This was the best soup I've ever made...it was good cold or hot. The picture doesn't do justice. Scott had dental issues that required soft foods and so we had soup in the beginning of summer...very good soup. He is a carnivore for sure...so I added 3 cheese tortellini..store bought to add a little meaty texture to the dish...oh sooooo good. I will keep tortellini in the freezer from now on. Check out http://www.cookstr.com/ for original recipe...this is based on that receipe...but tweeked a little.

Roasted Acorn Squash/Pumpkin Soup

For this soup use Sugar pumpkins or Perfection squash–both are sweet and full-flavored without being stringy and watery. Delicata and butternut or acorn squash, though milder, are also delicious. The stock is a simple one, using the seeds and scrapings of the pumpkin or squash, a few vegetables, and herbs. (I didn't do the stock, I used boxed chix stock)
Yield: Serves four to six
Ingredients
THE STOCK
Seeds and scrapings from the pumpkin or squash
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 celery stalk, plus some leaves, chopped into small pieces
1 turnip, peeled and diced
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon dried sage leaves or 5 to 6 fresh sage leaves
4 parsley branches
3 thyme branches
½ teaspoon salt
8 cups cold water

(I didn't do any of the above, but used boxed chicken stock...worked great)
THE SOUP
2 pumpkin or squash, weighing about 2½ pounds, halved and scooped out (I have no idea how much my two acorn squash weighed...)
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion, cut into ¼-inch dice

1 stalk celery, finely diced
½ to 1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground nutmeg to taste

dash of cayenne

several TBS of Franks Hot Sauce (to taste)

2 whole garlic cloves
6 to 7 cups stock
½ cup light cream
Black pepper
3 ounces Gruyere cheese, finely grated
Lemon Thyme leaves, finely chopped, for garnish
Directions
Cut the pumpkin or squash in half and scrape out all the seeds and stringy material with a large metal spoon. Put them in a pot with the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, simmer for 25 minutes, and then strain. (again, I didn't, I just used boxed chix stock)
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly oil, s&p and bake the pumpkin or squash halves, face down, on a lightly oiled baking sheet until the skin is wrinkled and the flesh is soft, about 1 hour. (Mine were ready about 10min early) Remove them from the oven and, when cool enough to handle, peel off the skin. Reserve any caramelized juices that may have collected on the pan. I had no juices, but did deglaze all the carmelized bits for my soup.
Melt the butter in a soup pot, add the onion and celery, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the cooked pumpkin, the juices, if any, the salt, pepper, cayenne & nutmeg, and 6 cups of the stock. Bring to a boil; then simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.
Pass the soup through a food mill (I don't have a food mill, I just blitzed it in the cuisinart in batches), which will smooth it out while leaving some texture. Return the soup to the pot and add the cream and more stock, if necessary, to thin it.
Taste for salt and season with the freshly ground black pepper, hot sauce and reseason to taste. Stir in the grated cheese and serve the soup with the thyme leaves scattered over it. I like a lot of spice and flavor so I added lots of hot sauce, black pepper and nutmeg.
Variation: Another way to make this soup is to bake pumpkins with the cream and the cheese inside their hollowed-out shells. The cooked flesh is scraped into the hot cream and melted cheese and served right from the pumpkin–a satisfying and fun way to cook and eat.

Tortellini

Purchase frozen or refrigerated tortellini of your choice...cook per directions on package and garnish soup with a good handful....so wonderful!

Serve with breadstix....or good toasted bread of choice