Pumpkin Chowder

Tonight on my stove is a large pot of pumpkin chowder,  adapted from Country Living Magazine. This is a great soup to use those odd squashes from the farm co-op box that you just don't know what to do with.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 leeks, trimmed of green tops and chopped

3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 medium green bell peppers, chopped

2 1/4 pounds pumpkin, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 by 1 inch thick pieces

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/4 cups frozen corn

6 cups vegetable broth

Directions

• Heat olive oil in large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
• Add leeks and cook until very soft, about 5 minutes.
• Add garlic and cook for about 2 minutes.
• Stir in green peppers and reduce heat to medium-low until peppers soften, about 8 more minutes.
• Add the remaining ingredients and cook until pumpkin is tender, about 30 minutes.

Notes from my kitchen:

• Tonight, I made this with no pumpkin at all, but sweet potato, acorn squash, delicata squash and zucchini. 
• I usually add a cup or so of chopped carrots, some celery and a cup or 2 of chopped baby red potato to the above, adjusting the vegetable broth to make sure everything cooks through.
• Sometimes I throw in some chopped kale. Tonight, I added some chopped swiss chard. 
• Also, I've substituted onions for leeks, and red bell pepper for green, based on whatever I have in the fridge.
• I add more corn than the recipe calls for, for a total of 2 cups or so. We like our chowder with lots of veggies.
• As you might guess from reading any of my other recipes, I increase the spices...sometimes by 100% or more. We like our spice around here and the marjoram makes for a nice, robust peppery chowder (not piquant, just peppery).  
• I cook this waaaay longer than 30 minutes - usually for several hours on simmer with an occasional stir, but you could probably cook it in 30 minutes over a higher heat if you needed to.
• Great served with buttermilk bisuits!