Seasonal recipe -

1. Melt butter and olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. When the butter has melted, add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is completely soft, about 4 to 5 minutes.

2. Stir in the pumpkin and cook another 3 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper. Stir in the chicken broth and bring the soup to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and cook 10 minutes. Add brown sugar, crushing it first in your hands to smooth out the lumps. Mix well. Turn to low to keep soup warm

3. Meanwhile, make the Herbed goat cheese mousse: using an electric or stand mixer, whip the cream until it holds together in soft peaks. With the machine off, crumble in the goat cheese, salt, pepper, and thyme. Turn machine on to medium speed and whip goat cheese and cream together until uniform, about 1 minute, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. Chill until ready to use.

4. Serve hot, topping each bowl with a tablespoon-sized dollop of Herbed goat cheese mousse. Serves 4 to 6.

Tips:
If you’d like, you can use fresh pumpkin for this soup instead.

● Preheat your oven to 400˚F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and spread about a tablespoon of olive oil over the foil. Cut a medium-sized pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds, and place halves cut-side down on baking sheet. Bake 45 to 60 minutes (depending on the type and size of your pumpkin), or until a fork pierces the skin easily. Let cool about 10 minutes, then scrape the pumpkin flesh into the bowl of a food processor and puree until smooth. You’ll need 5 1/4 cups of pumpkin puree.

The soup and mousse can be made a day in advance.