Superb squash soup with the best Parmesan croutons
This fantastic soup is best made with varieties of squash that have dense, orange flesh, such as butternut or onion squash. It's important to use good chicken stock and season the soup well to bring out the nutty, sweet flavour of the squash. Once you've mastered this recipe, you can take the soup in different ways by adding pearl barley, dried pasta, or some chopped smoked bacon. Even the smallest amount of dried porcini. PS I made this in my pressure cooker the other day, with really great results – it's so quick!
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 13 of 14 ingredients — the other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 13 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chicken | 100g cooked | 165 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Parmesan Cheese | 1 oz (28g) | 110 |
| Red Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Carrot | 1 medium (61g) | 25 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Garlic | 1 clove (3g) | 4 |
| Rosemary | 1 tsp dried (1.2g) | 4 |
| Sage | 1 tsp ground (0.7g) | 2 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Pumpkin | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 16 fresh sage leaves
- 2 red onions, peeled and chopped
- 2 sticks celery, trimmed and chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked
- ½ - 1 fresh red chilli, to taste, deseeded and finely chopped
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 kg butternut squash, onion squash or musque de Provence, halved, deseeded and cut into chunks
- 2 litres organic chicken or vegetable stock
- extra virgin olive oil
- extra virgin olive oil
- 16 slices ciabatta bread
- 1 block Parmesan cheese, for grating