Chunky Butternut & Chickpea Soup

Sunday Soup A yummy meal-in-a-bowl soup for these wintery weekends. Serve with some hot buttered sourdough toast. Enjoy.

Ingredients

The Soup

• 1 butternut, peeled and diced, seeds removed
• 1 tbs cumin seeds
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes or more if you like it hot
• olive oil to drizzle
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• few sprigs parsley, leaves picked and stalks chopped

The Topping

• 50g flaked almonds
• 1tbs fennel seeds
• 1tb poppy seeds
• 1tb sesame seeds
• zest of 2 lemons
• few sprigs mint leaves, picked, chopped
• parsley leaves from soup mix
• olive oil to drizzle
• Harissa paste to serve, optional
• 1 lit vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained, rinsed
• sea salt and ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Place the chopped butternut, cumin and chilli on an oven tray, drizzle with olive oil and toss together. Roast until the butternut is cooked through, about 30 minutes.
3. While the butternut is in the oven, heat a large saucepan and pour in a splash of olive oil. Add the onion, celery, parsley stalks and garlic and cook gently with the lid on until softened.
4. Drop in the roasted butternut and chick peas, add the stock and simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes. At this stage you can keep aside a little of the butternut for serving if you like.
5. Season the soup well with sea salt and black pepper and, using a hand held blender, whiz for a few seconds until the soup is chunky.

The Topping

6. Mix together the flaked almonds, fennel sesame and poppy seeds with a little olive oil and spread on a baking sheet. Place in the oven for about 8 minutes or until they are nicely brown. Cool.
7. Store in an airtight container until needed.
8. Combine the lemon zest, chopped parsley and mint leaves.

To Serve

9. If you are using the Harissa paste, drop 1/2 tsp in the base of each bowl. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls. top with the chopped herb/lemon mix and then the almond mix. Serve with hot buttered sourdough toast.