Squash Soup with Bacon Crostini

Now the autumn weather is setting in soup is becoming a much more appealing option for lunch! I've never really liked soup on its own, I always want more texture to it, so I try to add some style of crouton or toasted seeds to make it a bit more interesting. I absolutely love croutons that are baked in tons of olive oil and salt.

This is definitely a recipe for batch preparation so you can knock up a quick lunch during the week.

Ingredients

• 2 white potatoes
• 2 butternut squash
• 2 white onions
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp bouillon (or 2 vegetable stock cubes)
• 1 tbsp dried chilli
• 150ml double cream
• 1.2l boiling water
• 1 ciabatta loaf
• 6 rashers streaky bacon
• Olive oil

Method

1. Peel and cut the squash and potato into cubes, brown in the oven on 220°C
2. Mix the bouillon with the boiling water
3. Finely chop the garlic and onion and soften in a pan on a low heat
4. Add the dried chilli to the onions
5. Add the browned veg to the pan
6. Add the stock and cream to the pan, ensure everything is well mixed and leave to simmer for 10 mins
7. Cut the ciabatta into cubes, cover in olive oil, season with salt and pepper
8. Slice the bacon into small strips
9. Add the cubes to a baking tray along with the bacon
10. Bake on 220°C for 7 minutes, ensuring all the bacon fat mixes with the bread
11. Blend the contents of the stock (using a hand mixer if possible) until it's a fine texture
12. Serve the soup with the crostini and bacon on top

Notes

Adding toasted seeds can be a nice way to introduce more protein (like sunflower or flaked almonds).