This soup came about because I really don’t like a chunky soup. Contrary to popular belief this isn’t because of the texture, but rather is because I get bored half way through a bowl of same tasting bite after bite. And by the time you’ve boiled your vegetables long enough to extract the flavour into the broth, every bite tastes the same.
I prefer a deconstructed soup. It’s still hearty, filling, healthy, but it looks much prettier since everything retains it’s colour and shape, and every bite is a mini-adventure.
Take this soup for example. Butternut soup with lardons, sage and Grana Padano cheese.
The first bite has a little bit of lardon and a small sliver of sage. It’s tasty. The next bite, has a hint of garlic, and a bit of onion along with the butternut, and tastes homey. The following spoon picks up a large piece of melted cheese, and the rich full flavour of Grana Padano accompanies the butternut down my throat. The next spoon hits a pocket of sage butter, and provides a whole other taste to any of the previous bites – and next it’s just a plain spoon of butternut, that almost cleanses your palet. And so it goes, on and on.
Well, it works for me, and I hope you like it too!
For this soup I like to roast the butternut squash. While you can just go ahead and make it from an uncooked butternut squash, which gives it a fresh flavour, I find a roasted butternut squash has so much more depth to it. It’s definitely worth the extra 40 or so minutes.
- 1 Butternut Squash
- 4 Garlic cloves
- 1 Onion
- 250ml chicken stock
- 30g butter
- 10 sage leaves
- 75g pasta
- 140g bacon lardons
- 50g Grana Padano shards
- pepper to taste
- olive oil to drizzle
- Cut the butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds.
- Peel four garlic cloves and put them inside the hollowed out butternut squash.
- Drizzle a good quality olive oil over the butternut squash, place on an oven tray and bake at 200C for about 40 mins till it’s soft all the way through. Set aside to cool slighly, then chop into rough chunks. If it’s a young butternut squash you can keep the skin, but if it’s older, discard.
- Add the onion and baked garlic cloves to the Thermomix and chop 3 seconds/speed 4.
- Cook for 3 minutes/100C/Speed 1
- Add the chicken stock and butternut squash, and cook 15 mins/speed 4
- Meanwhile in a pan, fry the bacon lardons until they are crispy, about 10 minutes.
- In another, smaller pan, melt 30g butter, and add the sage leaves. Gently fry for about 10 minutes on low heat until the butter is browned and the leaves are crispy.
- Thinly slice ‘shards’ of the Grana Padano cheese.
- To serve, dish up the soup, making sure to get some pasta in each bowl and sprinkle cheese over. On the side, serve lardons, additional cheese chards and the sage leaves.
- Drizzle the sage butter over the butternut squash soup, and serve.
- Chop and slice the onions and garlic, and saute for about 10 mins in suitable suit pot, till translucent.
- Add the chicken stock and butternut squash, and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat.
- Meanwhile in a pan, fry the bacon lardons until they are crispy, about 10 minutes.
- In another, smaller pan, melt 30g butter, and add the sage leaves. Gently fry for about 10 minutes on low heat until the butter is browned and the leaves are crispy.
- Thinly slice ‘shards’ of the Grana Padano cheese.
- To serve, dish up the soup, making sure to get some pasta in each bowl and sprinkle cheese over. On the side, serve lardons, additional cheese chards and the sage leaves.
- Drizzle the sage butter over the butternut squash soup, and serve.
