Pumpkin and bean soup with parsley pesto bread recipe | EUROtoday

If you don’t wish to make the bread, simply make the pesto and spoon some on to every serving of soup, or provide a bowl of it on the desk. It’s a good suggestion to maintain Parmesan rinds. They give such an intense umami flavour to soups. The soup itself, aside from the pumpkin, is just about a store-cupboard recipe (you should utilize carrots if you happen to don’t have pumpkin).

Timings

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Serves

6

Ingredients

For the pesto

• 40g parsley leaves
• 50g walnuts
• 25g pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 75g Parmesan, grated
• 150ml extra-virgin olive oil

For the soup and bread

• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 leek
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• 265g pumpkin or butternut squash flesh, lower into 2cm chunks
• 2 garlic cloves, grated to a purée
• 1 litre hen or vegetable inventory
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 50g Parmesan rind (or much less if you happen to don’t have a lot)
• 1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, drained
• 30g barley
• 1 massive baguette
• 50g butter
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley

Method

1. Make the pesto first in order that it’s prepared. Put every part besides the extra-virgin olive oil in a meals processor. Blend whereas regularly including the olive oil. Season and whizz once more.
2. Remove the outer leaves of the leek and trim the highest and the bottom (eliminating the greenest coarse elements  on the prime). Slice into rounds about 3cm in size.
3. Heat the oil and add the leek, onion, celery and pumpkin. Cook till the greens start to melt, then add the garlic and prepare dinner for one more 3 minutes.
4. Add the inventory, tomato purée and Parmesan rind. Bring as much as the boil, flip the warmth all the way down to a simmer and prepare dinner for  quarter-hour. The pumpkin ought to be gentle.
5. Add the beans and the orzo and season.
6. Simmer for one more 8 minutes, or till the pasta is tender. Look for the Parmesan rind and scoop it out.
7. Making the parsley pesto bread is like making garlic bread. Heat the oven to 220C/210C fan/gasoline mark 7.
8. Cut the baguette into slices with out chopping proper the way in which by means of. Set this on a bit of foil large enough to wrap round it.
9. Put butter and a few pesto in between the slices. Pull the foil as much as cowl.
10. Put on a baking sheet and bake for quarter-hour.
11. Serve with the soup, scattered with parsley.