Butternut Pumpkin, Apple & Rosemary Soup

What a combination this pairing is! A bit of a new spin on the classic pumpkin soup and so so good. I reckon this would make for a fabulous pie too, kinda like a sweet/savoury hybrid pie with double cream..mmmm yessss.

The key to the flavour in this soup is to sauté the ingredients until they are caramelised and turning golden. Then the stock deglazes your pot so you have all those beautiful flavours that have stuck to the bottom all through the soup. I topped ours with crunchy pepitas, cracked black pepper and some cream which adds a lovely richness to the soup.

We made this soup with my usual pumpkin soup recipe and then I grabbed down my copy of 'The Flavour Thesaurus' which sits on my mantle above my stove along with all my other favourite cookbooks that I have on rotation. I have a pretty long old-school mantle which Isaac hits his head on when he cooks but is the perfect height for me. Once upon a time, my grandparents had their cast-iron pot belly stove in there so all the steam could fly up the chimney flue. I still have the chimney flue acting as my silent range-hood but with a 60s oven that is an absolute work-horse. It never skips a beat. I also keep lots of cute kitschy biscuit tins that we have collected each time we've been to Belgium and France and all of our spirits for cocktail making. Plus some adorable old-school squirrel salt and pepper shakers from the 50s and little cards and vintage spice bottles. Sounds like a mess but it's so bloody cool in my opinion. Probably should live in Brunswick though with this style of kitchen, probably too hipster for the deep north of Melbourne haha!

Anyway back to 'The Flavour Thesaurus'! I looked up 'butternut pumpkin' and saw 'apple' as a pairing. I chopped one up, skin and all, threw it into the pot and added some rosemary because I've stripped all my other herbs bare! So so so good.

I let it simmer until just tender then blitzed it up in my vitamix and voila!

print recipe

Butternut, Apple and Rosemary Soup

by Melanie Lionello April-18-2016

A new spin on a classic staple.

Ingredients

• 700g butternut pumpkin, peeled and diced
• 1 green apple, chopped
• 1 leek, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 litres vegetable stock
• 1 litre water
• to taste salt
• 1 1/2 tbs fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions

Place olive oil, apple, pumpkin, leek and garlic into a wide-based pot, sauté for 10-15 minutes until browning and caramelising.Add stock, water, salt, and rosemary. Simmer for 30 minutes or until pumpkin and apple are tender.Remove from heat and blitz with a hand-held mixer or blender until smooth. Serve hot with some pepitas, pepper and cream on top.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 55 mins Yield: 4 large bowls