Can this soup be frozen?

If I were making the soup to freeze, I would make the soup base, but leave out the pasta. This will help to avoid getting overcooked pasta when reheating. You can then freeze the base and portion into individual freezer-safe containers or in a Souper cube tray and place in the freezer for up to 3 months. When serving, thaw and reheat the soup base, then cook the pasta separately. Add the cooked pasta to the soup and adjust with additional broth as needed.

How can I make this gluten-free?

Swap the pasta with gluten-free pasta. Instead of adding the pasta to the soup to cook in, I recommend cooking it separately as gluten-free pasta tends to be more delicate in texture. You can also opt to use a second can of beans in place of the pasta.

What should I know about roasting squash in the oven?

Cooking time may vary due to the size and thickness of your squash. The squash I used was about 400g. Be mindful of adding more as you will likely need more liquid to adjust for the creaminess.

Honeynut Sun-Dried Tomato Soup

Description

Cozy up with this creamy honeynut squash and sun-dried tomato soup. A rich and nourishing soup made with wholesome pantry friendly ingredients.

Ingredients

Scale

Avocado oil for roasting
Kosher salt as needed
1/3 cup raw cashews or sunflower seeds
1 small bulb garlic
About a 350 gram honeynut squash
3 shallots, thinly sliced
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp dry oregano
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
7 oz jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil, julienned
15 oz can of cannellini, drained and rinsed
4 cups vegetable broth
8 fresh thyme sprigs
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 cup cavatelli pasta or any small shaped pasta you love
2 cups kale leaves, minced
Bread for serving

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425F and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Add the cashews to a heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water, and let soak for at least 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Prep the vegetables. Slice 1/4 inch off the top of the garlic bulb to expose the cloves. Place the garlic on a small sheet of foil, drizzle with 2 tsp oil and a pinch of salt, then wrap tightly. Trim off the ends of the honeynut squash, cut in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds.
Place the squash halves on the baking tray and drizzle with 1/2 tbsp of oil and a generous pinch of salt, then flip cut side down on the baking tray. Add the wrapped garlic to the tray and roast for 35-40 minutes, or until both are soft.
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Pour in 2 tbsp of oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes (you can discard the remaining oil from the jar). Set aside the drained tomatoes.
Add the shallots and a pinch of salt to the pot. Sauté for 4-5 minutes, or until softened.
Stir in the paprika, oregano, fennel, and red pepper flakes. Sauté for 2-3 minutes to bloom the spices.
Add the beans, half of the reserved sun-dried tomatoes, vegetable broth, and 1 cup of water. Stir to combine, then drop in the thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
Scoop out and reserve 1/3 cup of the roasted squash. Scoop the remaining squash to the soup along with the pasta and simmer for 10 minutes while stirring occasionally.
Stir in the kale, cover the pot, and simmer for another 3 minutes, until the pasta is al dente and the kale is wilted. Remove from heat.
To a blender, add the soaked cashews, reserved squash, remaining sun-dried tomatoes, nutritional yeast, 1/2 tsp salt, roasted garlic squeezed out from the skins, and 1 cup of water. Blend until smooth and creamy.
Discard the thyme sprigs from the soup. Pour in the cashew cream, stirring well to combine. Taste and adjust salt as needed. Serve warm with a drizzle of olive oil and toasted bread.

Notes

If the soup is too thick, add more vegetable broth. Pour small amounts of warm broth in while stirring until you reach your desired consistency.

To save time. Use sun-dried tomatoes that are already julienned and 1 cup frozen cubed squash. And if you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to blend the cashew cream, sauté as much garlic as you like with the shallots at the beginning, stir in the nutritional yeast with the spices, then add all the sun-dried tomatoes and squash to the pot when simmering and use a can of coconut milk for the cream. You can also cut the cook time down by starting the soup base while you are roasting the squash and garlic in the oven.

Adjust cook time for different pasta shapes. I do still recommend using relatively small pasta shapes for this recipe like cavatelli, ditalini, or orzo for more even cooking times.