Pumpkin Soup with Kale, Chickpeas and Crispy Sage
A delicious, hearty and easy soup for rainy autumn days to come. Organic ‘boerpampoen’ pumpkin with its bright orange flesh is worth celebrating!
I love this Italian inspired soup with creamy pumpkin and chickpeas, salty pecorino and lots of fresh herbs.
Flavour additions
I love the addition of a small rind of parmesan, which I keep in the freezer, bubbling away with the stock, the rind adds a subtle flavour. Just remember to remove before blitzing the soup!
A note on herbs
The addition of rosemary, thyme and sage is a classic combination with pumpkin and worth sourcing. Marjoram or origanum is not always available but so easy to grow.
Seasonal swaps
Sweet potato or butternut instead of pumpkin. I think barlotti or cannelini beans would be a good swop for chickpeas.
Serving suggestions
You are going to want to serve this hearty soup with plenty of freshly grated pecorino, a drizzle punchy extra virgin olive oil, a chilli oil and large chunks of fantastic sourdough bread.
Pumpkin Soup with Kale, Chickpeas and Crispy Sage
Equipment
- 1 Hand-Blender or High-Speed Blender
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 large tablespoon finely chopped rosemary thyme, oregano
- 5 twigs sage leaves (garnish)
- 1 small red mild chilli seeds removed, chopped or pinch chilli flakes (opt)
- 3 small garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 500/600 g pumpkin cut into chunks
- 800 ml vegetable stock heated
- 1 x 400g tin chickpeas drained
- 3 small handfuls kale white stalks removed, roughly chopped
- handful finely grated vegetarian pecorino or parmesan cheese opt
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan, add the onion and cook, covered until the onion is soft, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the herbs, garlic, chilli and salt and stir until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin, increase the heat and cook the pumpkin covered for about 5 minutes or until it starts to soften and get a bit of colour around the edges. This is important step which will add to the texture (thickness) and flavour of the soup.
- Add 650ml stock (keep the rest aside) and plenty of pepper, the pecorino/parmesan rind if using (see intro note and let the soup simmer gently for 12 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft but not mushy. Add 1/2 can of chickpeas. NB: Remove the parmesan rind at this stage.
- With a hand-blender blitz the pumpkin soup in short bursts until kinda chunky and roughly smooth. If using a food processor, ladle half the soup into the bowl and blitz in short bursts, add the soup back to the saucepan.
- Add the rest of the chickpeas to the soup and mash a few chickpeas lightly with a fork to thicken the soup. At this stage, if the soup feels too thick, add the rest of the veggie stock and stir well. Season to perfection with salt and pepper.
- Add the kale leaves, swirl and take the soup off the heat, the heat in the saucepan will be enough to cook the kale.
- Crispy sage leaves: While the soup cools down, heat a few dollops of olive oil to a small non stick frying pan, when the oil is heated (medium heat) add the sage leaves and fry for a few seconds, taking care as the leaves might 'spit', drain the leaves on kitchen paper and season with flaky sea salt, keep aside.
- To serve, ladle soup into 4 warmed bowls, add a generous amount of cheese, drizzle of oil, black pepper and a few sage leaves. Enjoy!
