Soupy Sunday- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup and Spicy Crunchy Chickpea Croutons

Happy Spring! On this first day of Spring, I thought I would give you one last taste of a warm and spicy Winter Soup.

Let's start with the fun part of this soup... have a look at these, the Spicy Crunchy Chickpea Croutons. Brent just loved them!

Here's the recipe:

Gold Rush Butternut Soup with Smoky Chickpea Croutons

(Adapted from http://www.mynewroots.org/site/2014/01/gold-rush-soup-chickpea-croutons

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash

2 large yellow onions

8 cloves garlic

2 tsp. ghee or coconut oil, plus olive oil for garnish ( I used butter)

1 tsp. both sea salt and cracked black pepper (to taste)

3-4 cups vegetable broth

1 Tbsp. grated fresh turmeric or 2 tsp. ground turmeric powder

2 tsp. each fresh / 1 tsp dried rosemary and thyme (optional)

1 batch Smoky Chickpea Croutons (recipe below)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Peel and cube the butternut squash and place on a baking sheet. Peel and cut onions into quarters, add to baking sheet. Peel whole cloves of garlic and add to baking sheet. Drizzle with melted ghee or coconut oil and toss well to coat. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place in oven and roast for approximately 30 minutes until the squash is tender and the garlic is golden.

3. In a large blender pour 3 cups hot vegetable broth, turmeric (fresh or dried) and add the finely chopped rosemary and thyme. Carefully add the roasted vegetables and blend on high until completely smooth (let blender run for a minute or so). If the soup is too thick, add more broth to thin to desired consistency. Season to taste.

4. Pour soup into bowls and serve with a sprinkling of chickpea croutons and a drizzle of olive oil. If necessary, pour into a large pot to reheat if necessary. Keeps for 3 days in the fridge. Freezes well.

Smoky Chickpea Croutons

Ingredients:

3 cups or 2 cans cooked chickpeas – drained and well-rinsed

3 Tbsp. coconut oil

1 tsp. coarse sea salt

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. smoked paprika or ground chipotle pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.

2. Spread chickpeas out on a clean tea towel and rub them dry, discarding any loose skins. Place the chickpeas in a medium bowl and toss with coconut oil, seasoning and spices until coated.

3. Spread the chickpeas on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp. This takes about 25-35 minutes. Please note that the chickpeas will crisp up outside of the oven quite a bit, so if they are still a little soft when you take them out of the oven, that is okay.

4. Remove from the oven. Let cool, and serve at room temperature. Store in an airtight glass container for up to one week.

Let's start at the beginning. First I roasted the veggies.

Then I rinsed and drained the chickpeas.

I didn't read the instructions properly, I thought it said to remove the skins on 'ALL' the chickpeas... that took a lot of time and I had to recruit my darling daughter to help.... but looking back at the recipe, it mentions to remove the 'lose' skins, oh, well, you live and learn!

There are the crunchy beauties, a real nice difference from the ordinary bread or cracker as the usual garnish!

 

Oh, and here is a closeup of the gorgeous golden soup. Nice, eh?