Butternut squash & rosemary soup
A simple silky-smooth butternut squash soup topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and rosemary croutons. Easy, healthy and soul-filling.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil for cooking, for crouton baking/frying
- 1 large onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 medium potatoes peeled
- 1 butternut squash peeled, seeds removed
- 1 apple peeled, seeds removed
- 750 - 1250 ml water or vegetable stock
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Garnish
- 3 bread slices chopped in croutons
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp dried rosemary
- 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
Instructions
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Set a large pot to medium heat, pour 1 tbsp of olive oil. Chop the onion, potatoes, butternut squash and apple.
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When the oil is hot, add the onion and cook for 3 mins. Add the garlic, cook for another 2 mins. Add the potatoes and butternut squash, cook for 5 mins then add the chopped apple.
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Set a kettle (or another pot) and bring the water/stock to an almost boil. Pour into the pot with vegetables, cover and bring to a boil (increase to high heat).
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Once boiling, reduce heat and let it simmer for 15 mins (or until butternut squash is soft enough when you pinch it with a fork).
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In the meantime, set the oven (or a pan) to high heat, about 250ºC. Chop the slices of bread into cubes, place in a bowl and pour remaining oil and the rosemary, stir well to mix. Bake or fry the bread cubes along with the pumpkin seeds, until they are slightly toasted on the edges.
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Once veggies are soft and tender, remove the pot from the stove and let it sit for 2 minutes. With a hand blender or smoothie maker, blend the soup until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
If you opened our fridge any day of the week, you would find some kind of homemade soup 9/10 times. The reason being that soups are, after dogs, a man’s best friend. Filling, creamy, delicious and lazy – and healthy too; it depends on how you make them, claro. It is Autumn and already quite cold here in Dublin, and with it comes the need to warm up: teas and hot drinks, soups, baked goods and hot water bottles, are what marks the beginning of the darker season at home. Along with an expensive gas bill, of course.
I typically make soup on a Sunday or Monday evening, about 1.5 litres of it, and eat it throughout the week. I bring it to work in a tupperware and eat some at lunchtime every day, along with another (small) dish e.g. salad, rice or a burger. It also helps on those nights when it’s already a bit late and can’t bother to make something from scratch. Soup, toast and any leftover I can find in the fridge can make for the best kind of dinners.
During this year I have posted a few other soups, some warm (leek, carrot & sweet potato and cauliflower soup) and others cold (gazpacho), great for the Summer. However… my all-time favourite soup is the butternut squash. The foundation is the same as with the two other warm soups: onion, potatoes and the main vegetable; as well as any spices and garnish you might want to add.
I have made this soup many times now, I normally eat it quite plainly, with no garnish or extras. This time, I was craving some crunchiness, so I went for an easy solution: croutons and pumpkin seeds. I chopped a slice of bread into cubes, poured some olive oil, salt and sprinkled some dried rosemary. Baked them for 5-7 minutes, together with some pumpkin seeds, and… oh my! I am so glad I tried this out, especially the croutons. It wasn’t just the toasted flavour or crunchiness of the bread. The rosemary added some I-don’t-know-what that brought the soup to the next level.
I recommend making this to anyone! It is the best favour you can do to yourself in this cold crispy times.
If you do try it, let me know how it turns out or if you have any suggestions.
Enjoy 🙂
Silvia