Pumpkin Soup with Pancetta & Sage

Pumpkin soup is 100% my favorite soup – adding pancetta makes it even better. 

Pumpkin Soup 

·      1 Butternut Squash (pumpkin), halved

·      1 Brown Onion 

·      ½ bulb Garlic

·      1L Chicken Stock 

·      1 cup Thickened Cream 

·      Salt & Pepper

·      Olive Oil 

Pancetta & Sage Topping

·      100g Pancetta, diced

·      Small handful of Sage, roughly chopped

·      Olive Oil

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C. Leaving the skin on, halve the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. Place on a baking tray with the cut side up along with your onion (also halved with the skin on) and unpeeled garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. 

2. Bake in the oven for approx. 1 hour until the onion is caramelized and the pumpkin is soft enough to scoop with a spoon. 

3. Allow the pumpkin to cool until it’s easy to handle (trust me on this, I have burnt my fingers many a time being impatient!), and then scoop out the flesh into a large saucepan or soup pot. Do the same with the onion and garlic. 

4. Add the stock to the pan and use a stick blender to blend until smooth. You could also do all of this in a stand-up blender if you’d rather – just make sure the ingredients aren’t too hot to avoid a giant pumpkin splatter all over your kitchen! 

5. Place the pan over medium-high heat and bring to a gentle boil to warm through. I personally love really thick soup so I generally find that the stock is enough to thin out the consistency, however if you’re finding it’s too thick after blending you can add some water or more chicken stock at this stage. This will also depend on the size of your pumpkin so don’t be surprised if the next time you make this you need to add more or less. 

7. Lower the heat and stir in the cream. Again, depending on how you like your soup you can decrease the amount you add which will make it less rich (and probably better for your waist line). Once it’s all combined, keep your soup warm on low whilst you make the topping. 

8. In a small frying pan, heat a dash of olive oil and fry the pancetta until nice and crispy. Take the pan off the heat and add the sage, the residue heat will be enough to make it crunchy (warning – this can happen very quickly if you leave it on the heat!). Remove everything from the pan and drain on some paper towel. 

9. To serve, sprinkle the soup with the pancetta & sage topping along with a dash of cream and olive oil. Enjoy!