Spiced pumpkin soup with nutty bacon crumble
Serves: 6
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photography by Ant Duncan
Spiced pumpkin soup with nutty bacon crumble
Use a dense variety of pumpkin or squash here, not the giant lantern type, which have watery flesh and little flavour
Serves: 6
Prep time: 15 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
223Kcal
Fat
11gr
Saturates
2gr
Carbs
22gr
Sugars
11gr
Fibre
5gr
Protein
8gr
Salt
0.6gr
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst’s recipes
Ingredients
For the soup
- 1kg (peeled weight) pumpkin or butternut squash, roughly chopped
- 2 red onions, cut into chunky wedges
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 3 rosemary sprigs
- a pinch of chilli flakes
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 900ml chicken stock
For the crumble topping
- 80g smoked bacon lardons
- 50g sourdough, blitzed into chunky crumbs
- 30g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 rosemary sprig, leaves picked
Step by step
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Put the pumpkin (or squash) in a roasting tray with the onions, garlic, rosemary and chilli flakes. Drizzle over the oil and sherry vinegar and toss to coat. Season well and roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until very soft and starting to caramelise at the edges.
- Remove the roast veg from the oven and discard the woody rosemary stalks. Transfer everything to a large pan, add the chicken stock and blitz with a stick blender (or in a liquidiser in batches) until smooth. Adjust the seasoning to taste and keep warm on the hob while you make the topping.
- Fry the bacon bits and chunky sourdough crumbs in a dry frying pan for 5-6 minutes, until golden and crisp. Add the hazelnuts and rosemary and continue to cook for a couple of minutes until the nuts are toasted.
- Serve the soup with the bacon crumble scattered over the top. Leftover soup can be frozen.
