Butternut Squash and Chorizo Soup
This no-fuss recipe for warming butternut squash soup garnished with smokey chorizo from The Complete Slow Cooker Cookbook is a great make-ahead lunch or dinner option, and takes only fifteen minutes to prepare before cooking it low and slow to maximise flavour.
Introduction
Warming, rich and satisfying, this is a heartwarming soup to welcome you home on an autumn day. When in season, the butternut squash can easily be replaced with pumpkin, which gives a creamy finish to the soup.
Ingredients
| 1 kg | butternut squash, deseeded |
| 4 | red Romero peppers or 3 ordinary red peppers, deseeded |
| 4 tbsp | olive oil |
| 2 | celery sticks, roughly chopped |
| 2 | onions, roughly chopped |
| 2 | garlic cloves, finely chopped |
| 400g | potato, chopped |
| 2 tsp | dried oregano |
| 2 tsp | sweet paprika |
| A pinch | chilli flakes |
| 1 tbsp | sherry vinegar, plus extra to serve (optional) |
| 1 litre | vegetable stock |
| 75g | chorizo |
| Salt and freshly ground black pepper |
Essential kit
You will need: a slow cooker and a hand blender.
Method
Roughly chop the squash and peppers, reserving a quarter of the pepper and about 75g of the squash. Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil over a medium heat in a large pan. Add the squash, peppers, celery, onions, garlic and potato and leave to soften, loosely covered, for 10 minutes.
Add the oregano, paprika, chilli flakes, sherry vinegar (if using) and stock. Add seasoning and bring to the boil. Place in the slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on the high setting or 8 hours on low.
About 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time, chop the reserved pepper, squash and chorizo into small pieces. If you prefer a smooth soup, blend the mixture with a hand blender (far safer than using a food processor).
Heat a small frying pan, add the chorizo and vegetables and cook for 10 minutes, over a medium heat, stirring until the squash is golden.
To serve, check the seasoning and serve topped with the chorizo and vegetable garnish and an extra drizzle of sherry vinegar.
