Squash Velouté with Hazelnut Crumble
In Autumn, squash (and particularly pumpkin) soup recipes abound. This one is super easy, very healthy because it does not rely on cream and yet has a nutty crumble topping that you can add to jazz it up for a dinner party. The crumble keeps for a couple of weeks in a storage box to add to other veggie soups.
It can be made vegan too with a vegan cheese for the crumble instead of the parmesan plus the blue cheese cubes are optional too.
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Serves: 6
Ingredients
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1 Pumpkin or Butternut Squash (about 1.5kg)
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1 shallot
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1 medium-sized potato
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50 cl hot vegetable stock
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1 large slice of sourdough or wholemeal bread
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50 g butter or vegan alternative, diced small
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50 g grated parmesan or vegan hard cheese
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50 g flour
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30 g of hazelnuts
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Optional: 50 g blue cheese such as Stilton or Cashel blue or Fourme d'Alembert (or vegan alternative)
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1 handful of sprouting seeds such as alfafa
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Olive oil
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Salt & pepper
Method
Peel the shallot and chop it finely. Peel and cube the potato. Scrub the pumpkin or squash and cut it into cubes (don't forget to remove the seeds). For pumpkin and butternut squash, you can cook and use the flesh and the skin. In a large saucepan, put 2 tbsp of olive oil and cook the shallot, potato and pumpkin for 5 minutes without browning. Add the hot vegetable stock and simmer until the vegetables are cooked. Using a stick or large blender whizz until smooth adding a little water if it is too thick. Keep warm.
Topping
Preheat the oven to 180 °/170° fan. In a bowl, rub the cubed butter or vegan alternative into the flour with your fingertips and mix in the Parmesan cheese and the roughly chopped hazelnuts. Place this mixture on a baking sheet, covered with baking paper. Bake in the oven until the crumble turns golden brown. Take out of the oven and set aside. Cut the slice of bread into cubes and in a hot pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil, brown the croutons until they turn golden. Set them aside on a plate covered with absorbent paper. Cut the cheese into small cubes if using.
Pour the pumpkin velouté into the soup plates, sprinkle onto it the croutons, the hazelnut crumble and a few cubes of blue cheese. Finish with sprouted shoots such as leek or alfafa and serve piping hot.
Wine
If you use the full recipe with the hazelnut topping then pair this soup with a red wine with some barrel age so that you have the complexity of the oak ageing reinforcing the nutty notes of the nuts and parmesan in the crumble topping.
Without the nutty topping, but with the sprouts then a dry white wine would give freshness and indeed, based on the main course you plan to serve, if you would like to keep the same wine for both (and let's face it, most of us do), you can adjust the topping to be sure it will pair with the right wine for your main course.