Butternut squash chestnut soup is a perfect recipe after New Year. Healthy food that can be produced virtually immediately is a jolly useful thing when you’re trying to eat healthily in January.
Re-visiting soup for the latest Monthly Mingle after it was the subject last month was not my plan. However, with this month’s theme being “winter vegetables” and having some already cooked butternut squash and some left over vacuum packed chestnuts I found myself sucked into soup. It’s that time of year.
This is my second in a mini-series of three posts showing ways to use up seasonal ingredients you may have left over from Christmas and New Year. Today’s ingredient being those chestnuts. I am sending this butternut squash chestnut soup to this month’s mingle, organised by Meeta of What’s For Lunch Honey? is hosted this month by Sudeshna of Cook Like a Bong.
Making the Butternut squash chestnut soup
It is helpful, but not essential, to cook your butternut squash in advance. I cooked two whole butternut squashes in my slow cooker the night before and they were ready for me to pop some straight into this butternut squash chestnut soup and also a curry.
Clean and chop your leek then fry it with olive oil in a large saucepan. When they are softened add the chestnuts and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes.
Mash the cooked chestnuts gently into the leeks. (I advise using a plastic masher if using non-stick pans)
Now tip in the cooked butternut squash and your stock and heat it all up. Alternatively you could add raw butternut squash and stock here but you will need to allow extra time to cook it now. Depending how small the chunks are, this would take an extra 10-15 minutes once the stock has come up to the boil.
You can use a stick blender to puree your soup to whatever texture you prefer.
(By the way, I really don’t rate KitchenAid saucepans. As you can see in the photo the non-stick surface is wearing off. I thought I’d done something horrible to them but I visited a friend with same saucepans at the weekend and it’s happening to him aswell. KitchenAid saucepans look lovely, have nice rubber handles but they’re not guaranteed for 10 years or a lifetime like certain other brands and well, I can see why now. I’ve long replaced them and most recently with these saucepans from Habitat as you can see in my saucepans unboxing video!)
Season to taste and serve immediately. I sprinkled the sage over the top of mine here with some creme fraiche. It would be equally nice without or alternatively you could use a blob of low fat yogurt.
Next time, in my third installment of using up things you may have left in the fridge after Christmas, I have something very enticing to show you with some left over soft cheese. It’s not for dieters!
Butternut squash chestnut soup
A delicious winter soup, ideal for using up chestnuts after Christmas.
Servings: 4
Calories: 185kcal
Ingredients
- 400 g butternut squash ideally cooked, having been peeled and chopped into medium size chunks. Or use raw and allow longer to simmer the soup. See instructions.
- 1 tsp vegetable stock I use Marigold powder
- 500 ml boiling water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 leek cleaned and sliced into rings
- 100 g chestnuts ready cooked peeled - I use Merchant Gourmet vacuum packed ones
- 100 ml half fat creme fraiche (optional)
- 1 tsp sage chopped if fresh, but dried works too
- salt to season
- pepper to season
Instructions
- (Cook your butternut squash in advance. I bunged mine in slow cooker the night before). Alternatively you can cook it at the simmer stage below but your soup will take longer to make.
- Fry the leek rings in the olive oil in a large saucepan. When they are softened, add the chestnuts and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Mash the chestnuts gently into the leeks.
- Mix the stock using the bouillon mix and boiling water.
- Tip in the cooked butternut squash and stock and heat up. Alternatively you could add raw butternut squash and stock here but you will need to allow maybe ten mins' extra time to cook the squash at this stage.
- Use a stick blender to puree your soup to whatever texture you prefer.
- Season to taste and serve immediately. I sprinkled the sage over the top with some half fat creme fraiche but it would be equally nice without. Alternatively you could use a blob of low fat yogurt.
What to serve with Butternut Squash Chestnut Soup?
I’m sure you’ll want to bread to dip in your soup so I have a couple of suggestions. Also pictured with a Glorious (brand) butternut soup is my 30 minute Soda Bread – the fastest bread you can make!
Also very quick, would be my coriander chapatti, which only take around ten minutes. Once you’ve bound the flour and water together, they puff up on the heat in seconds.
Really great soup and since I love chestnuts I say this is a great way to use them. Excellent recipe, Sarah. But why is it that I always use my chestnuts with chocolate? This is much healthier!
This looks delicious. I love butternut squash but I always find them really hard to peel. Any tips? Could you use chestnut puree? Love the idea of using up seasonal leftovers.
@alison You could always cook them just sliced in half and baked in oven, then when cooked you can scoop the flesh out. That's pretty low effort. I suppose you could use chestnut puree so long as it's the unsweetened one.
Thanks Sarah! I'm going to give it a whirl.
Mmmm, I *love* butternut soup – but have never thought to add chestnuts! In fact, I never realyl know what to do with chestnuts, other than eat them straight off the fire!