Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

We got two pumpkins in last week's box and I adapted a good-looking recipe from the October 18 SF Chronicle newspaper for Pumpkin & Black Bean Soup. Below is my adaption of the original recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-sized sugar pumpkin
• broth
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon of herbs (original recipe calls for savory and thyme. I used Penzey's Bouquet Garni)
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely diced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (original recipe calls for 2 teaspoons which I followed but we thought it was too salty)
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• black pepper, to taste
• cilantro leaves, about 5 per soup bowl
  
• 1 tablespoon low fat sour cream
• 1 small red bell or gypsy pepper, diced
  

Instructions:

• Roast the pumpkin. Here is a picturesque site that is helpful on how to cut and clean the pumpkin. This can be done one or two days ahead of making the soup.
• Heat broth in a pot and add cooked pumpkin. Use an immersion blender to puree the pumpkin and broth mixture.
  
• In a large sauce pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and add onion. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
• Add garlic and jalapeno peppers.
• Add black beans, herbs, black pepper, and salt and stir to mix
• Pour in pumpkin stock mix
• Ladle into bowls and garnish with sour cream, diced red peppers, and cilantro leaves

We found that the cilantro really adds a great counterpoint to the recipe so don't skip this step.