Pumpkin bean soup

At some point in my life I became able to concoct what I call random acts of soup. Basically taking whatever is in the house, follow standard soup recipe procedures and pairings, and come up with lunch. This is one of those, loosed basely on a couple of soup recipes that involved overnight soaking of beans, roasting fresh pumpkin and hours of prep time. This one comes together in less than 40 minutes, and it works just fine with whatever I've got on hand. So since it's Halloween, random acts of soup with pumpkin it is.

Pumpkin bean soup

Ingredients
2 celery stalks, diced
1/4 cup chopped shallots (or onions, or leeks)
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons butter
1 can pumpkin (the size that yields one pie, not the bigger kind that yield two)
1 can cannellini beans
2 cups or more of broth
1 large sage sprig, leaves thinly sliced, plus more for garnish (optional)
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Smidge of nutmeg
Parmesan cheese rind (optional)
Shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish

Method
Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add celery, shallots and carrots and saute until tender. Stir in pumpkin, beans, enough broth to make desired consistency of soup, sage, pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste. Add in Parmesan rind if you're using one. (It adds more of its flavor to the soup the longer you let it set, and softens up to become cheese candy.) Simmer for a half hour. Garnish with additional sage leaves and shredded Parmesan if desired. Can be made ahead and reheated.

Obviously, if you have leftover roasted squash lying around, by all means use that instead of the pumpkin. And if you've got crockpot cooked beans instead of canned, even better. But this is cheater's soup, so whatever you've got that works is fine.

Note: Once the tail ends of Parmesan wedges harden up, I put then in a bag in the freezer I can take out and toss into soups. It adds that umami element to a variety of soups without changing the consistency in any way.