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Roast pumpkin, sage and maftoul soup
Serves 4-6 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 1kg pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2cm chunks
- 4tbsp light olive oil
- 50g maftoul (Palestinian giant couscous)
- 30g salted butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- ½tsp ground ginger
- 8 sage leaves, 4 finely chopped and 4 left whole
- 750ml good-quality vegetable or chicken stock
- extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Method
Place the pumpkin or squash in a large baking tray and drizzle with half of the oil. Bake for 25 minutes, or until soft. Meanwhile, cook the maftoul in a pot of boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain and set aside.
Heat the remaining oil and 15g of butter in a saucepan. Add the onion and fry over a medium heat for 10 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, ginger and chopped sage and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the cooked pumpkin, stock, 1/2tsp salt and 1/4tsp pepper and cook for 5 minutes to bring all the flavours together.
Remove the soup from the heat and roughly blend it with a handheld blender, leaving a few pieces of pumpkin for texture. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
To make the topping, lightly fry the remaining whole sage leaves in the remaining butter until they are crispy. Stir these through the maftoul and season with 1/4tsp salt.
To serve, ladle the soup into warmed bowls and top with a few spoonfuls of the maftoul. Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
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