Recipes

Spiced butternut squash soup with ginger and smoked pancetta

I LOVE this versatile ingredient, can be used in risottos, ravioli, salads and tasty purees. This week’s recipe however for spiced butternut squash soup is just right for the January chill and brings you the best of hearty winter warming combined with an Asian twist.

Spiced butternut squash soup with ginger and smoked pancetta, now that’s a mouth-full! Not only to say but also in taste. The flavor is warm, fresh and lemony! The smoked pancetta adds a divine smokey salted flavor to accentuate the butternut squash alongside the ginger and lemongrass to create an almost umami like taste.

This recipe is perfect to make on a cool week night as it only takes 40 minutes to prepare and cook. It is also a simple enough recipe that you can easily make this with the family. Serve with some freshly home made bread or buy a loaf of ciabatta from your favorite grocery store. Make sure to make enough as the left-overs can be frozen for an easy to heat up meal on days when you’re not in the mood to cook, but rather want to just get into bed and snuggle with some warm soup.

Now that dinner is sorted, why not take a look at some inspiration for tomorrows meal? See our other recipes, here.

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Spiced butternut squash soup with ginger and smoked pancetta

Recipe rating: 5.0 from 1 votes
Recipe by Chris Arkadieff Course: Lifestyle, Recipes
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 large squash peeled and diced

  • 1 onion diced

  • 80 g peeled fresh ginger

  • 2 tsp of turmeric

  • 2 sticks lemon grass roughly chopped

  • 2 lime leaves

  • 4 cloves of garlic

  • 2 tablespoons green curry paste

  • 2 lts coconut milk

  • 100 g caster sugar

  • 500 ml of cold water

  • 2 tsp roasted pumpkin seeds

  • 3 tsp of roasted diced pancetta

Directions

  • Peel and dice squash into small pieces, removing the seeds and placing them to one side to use later.
  • In a blender add the onion, ginger, lemon grass lime leaves, garlic, turmeric and curry paste and blitz into a paste.
  • Fry the paste in a little oil before adding the water.
  • Bring the pan to a boil then add the squash and sugar. Cover with cling film and cook for about 1 hour or until soft.
  • Add the coconut milk and bring to a slow boil.
  • Place the leftover butternut seeds in the oven and allow them to dry out and crisp slightly. Dust the seeds in a little ground cumin and paprika.
  • Gently pan-fry the pancetta pieces until crisp. Put to one side, removing excess oil with kitchen roll.
  • Place the soup into a food processor and blend until smooth.
  • Serve warm and garnish the soup with the pancetta and spiced squash seeds.
Chris Arkadieff

Chris Arkadieff was born and raised in Australia where he gathered his first cooking experiences and won an Ansett “Best Apprentice Chef of the Year ” award. He was cooking on the exclusive Hayman Island in Australia, voted number two resort in the world, later he worked in Italy and did two stages in New York. He moved to London in 1999 to start working with Gordon Ramsay Group. After working first as sous chef and then head chef in London, he was in 2014 sent to Hong Kong to become the head chef for Gordon Ramsay’s group there. He is now head chef of the Strand Dining Rooms. He is also chef contributor to one of Prague’s leading food specialists Roman Vanek who wrote also a best selling cook book.

Published by
Chris Arkadieff
Tags: Australians in the UKChris's Kitchenfood & wineMaze Grillrecipes
9 September 2021 10:49 AM