Squash, Fennel, Chorizo Soup
8 colorSTHE WHY BEHIND THIS RECIPE
With the fires happening in LA this week, I’ve been focused on very simple, nourishing meals - and soups, lots of soups.
This soup was inspired by a Justine Cooks recipe where I learned a lovely sneaky trick to char-roast the veggies before adding them into the soup to caramelize their flavors. Usually I’m a one pot soup girl, but the one pot + sheet pan for this was worth the marginal extra effort.
I also used my personal tried and true soup secret - adding miso to the base when you sauté the aromatics and/or herbs. It gives it a little umami flavor, and a touch of salt without being too salty. I can’t even begin to tell you how flavorful this broth is, you are going to be blown away!
The butternut squash here adds a natural sweetness and velvety texture that I love, but to ensure it’s blood sugar friendly this soup also has chickpeas (for protein and fiber) and chorizo (for protein). The inclusion of bone broth enhances the soup with collagen and minerals and gives it even more flavor. In case you missed it, here is my easy weekly bone broth recipe.
Yields: 6-8 servings
Total time: 60 minutes
WHAT YOU NEED
TOOLS
1 large or two small sheet pans
1 dutch oven or stock pot
Measuring cups/spoons
INGREDIENTS
1 large butternut squash (or your squash of choice), cubed
1 large fennel bulb or two small fennel bulbs (and their stalks and fronds!)
1 medium yellow onion, half diced, half chopped the same as the fennel
olive oil (~1/3 cup for the whole recipe)
2 tbsp red or white miso
4 garlic cloves
4 sprigs rosemary, chopped
8-10 fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 lb chorizo sausage, or your ground meat of choice
Note: If you are not using chorizo, I recommend added 1 tsp each of chili powder, smoked paprika, oregano, and cumin to mimic the spicy chorizo flavor.
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicier!)
8 cups bone broth (if you don’t make it homemade, I like Bonafide)
1 15-oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 bunch dino kale, thinly sliced
1 cup milk, heavy creme, or coconut milk (your choice but heavy creme obviously tastes best)
Kosher salt
HOW TO DO IT
PREPARE ROASTED INGREDIENTS
1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Halve and deseed the squash. Cube into 1-inch square pieces. Add half of the squash to a sheet pan. Set other half aside.
3. Halve the onion. Cut one half into chunks and add to the sheet pan. Thinly slice the other half and set aside.
4. Remove the stalks and fronds from the fennel. Thinly slice the stalks just like you would celery and set aside. Slice the bulb into bite-sized chunks (similar in size to the chunks of onion). Then add only the chunks of the bulb to the sheet pan.
5. If your sheet pan is too crowded, put the fennel and onion on one sheet pan and the squash on another. Using your hands, toss the squash, fennel and onion with a little olive oil and salt. Roast for 25 minutes.
SAUTE HERBS, CHORIZO, FENNEL AND REMAINING BUTTERNUT SQUASH
6. While everything is roasting, grate 4 garlic cloves, finely chop the 4 sprigs of rosemary and the 8-10 sage leaves. You can also chop the fennel fronds here too and add those in! #nowaste
7. In a large dutch oven or stock pot, add 1/4 cup olive oil and 2 tbsp miso. Then add the garlic, sage, rosemary, fennel fronds, 1 tbsp fennel seeds and 2 tsp red pepper flakes. Stir for 2-3 minutes. Then add the remainder of the thinly sliced onion and 1lb of chorizo (or your ground meat of choice). Saute and stir until chorizo is almost cooked through.
Note: If using plain ground meat, add in 1 tsp each of chili powder, smoked paprika, oregano, and cumin to mimic the chorizo flavor.
8. Add in the thinly sliced fennel and season with salt. Stir for 4-5 minutes.
9. Add remaining butternut squash and 1 cup of bone broth, stir together. Add a pinch of salt. Cover the pot and then turn down to a simmer for ~15-20 minutes (or until squash is softened). Stir it 2-3 times during this time. Using a potato masher or the back of a spoon, mash the squash so it’s broken apart. This will make your soup a little more yellow/orange! I like to mash the squash with the back of a spoon on the side of the pot.
ADD BROTH, CHICKPEAS, AND ROASTED VEGGIES AND SIMMER
10. Add in 7 cups of bone broth and 1 can chickpeas.
11. Add in roasted veggies from the oven - they should be done by now!
12. Simmer everything for 15 minutes. You can simmer for longer if you have time and want even more flavor and for the soup to thicken up.
ADD IN MILK, KALE, AND VOILA!
13. Make sure the soup is on a low simmer. Then add in the 1 cup heavy creme, milk or coconut milk, and the diced kale. It should take just 2-3 minutes for the kale to soften and turn bright green.
14. Ladle and serve with a pinch of flakey sea salt on top!
SWAPS, TIPS & TRICKS
Squash types: Don’t have butternut squash? You can use kabocha squash, acorn squash, any kind of squash.
Can’t find chorizo?: Sometimes a good organic chorizo can be hard to find. What I’ve done is just use ground pork, beef, turkey or chicken and then when I’m adding the meat in, I’ll also add 1 tsp each of chili powder, smoked paprika, oregano, and cumin to mimic the chorizo flavor.
To make vegetarian: Swap out chorizo for another can of chickpeas to get more protein. Swap bone broth for veggie broth.
Nutritional Info
Per serving, assumes 6 servings
Calories: 598
Carbohydrates: 40g
Fiber: 10g
Net carbs: 30g
Protein: 33g
Fat: 35g
Sodium: 1655mg
Sugar: 8g
