This is my new soup recipe. It is super good, I think. John and my father-in-law, Don agree. In fact it is so good that it cured my fear of orange caused by the Oompa Loompa hair dying incident and the Wonky Wonka boob that resulted from surgery #5.

Note: Unless otherwise described, I use a fairly large dice because I like to be both rustic and lazy.

Soup stock (adapted from Tom Colicchio’s turkey stock recipe)
1-2 tablespoons butter
2 onions, diced
1 cup carrots, peeled and diced
2  quarts chicken stock
1 chicken carcass (I bought a whole chicken from the store. If you follow a low sodium diet, you should probably use low sodium chicken broth unless you prepare your own chicken.)
(Note: I threw in the onion peels because they were a beautiful brown color.)

1. Saute vegetables in butter over medium heat 15-30 minutes, until deeply browned. Add chicken carcass either at beginning or after it’s cooked for awhile depending on whether it’s going to get in your way or not. Browning it a little will add flavor.
2. Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock and deglaze the pan so you can loosen all of the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan.
3. Add the rest of the stock, raise heat to a boil then lower to a simmer for 45 minutes.
4. Strain the broth and set aside.

The soup

8-12 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
1 head cauliflower, sliced into large bite-sized pieces.
2 onions, diced
2 sugar pie pumpkins, seeds and “guts” removed, peeled and diced into 1-2 inch pieces
cooked chicken, torn into small pieces (about 1-2 cups worth.)
2-3 tablespoons curry powder
Black pepper to taste
1.Roast cauliflower, drizzled lightly in olive oil for 25 minutes at 450 degrees. Set to side.
2. Cook bacon pieces until beginning to brown in a large soup pot. Remove with slotted spoon and reserve.
3. Add onions and cook until brown and carmelized, over medium low heat for about 15-20 minutes.
4. Add chicken stock, pumpkin chunks, curry, and ground pepper. Cook, over medium heat until pumpkin is tender, about 20-25 minutes.
5. Add cooked chicken, bacon, and cauliflower. Cook until heated.
Note: I know that bacon is a bit odd in a curry dish. I had actually planned for another kind of soup and then discovered that I didn’t have all of the ingredients I thought I did. By the time I changed my plan to a curry flavored dish, the bacon was already cooked. As it turns out, bacon tastes darned good in curry.