This soup is surprisingly easy to throw together and it creates such a delicious aroma in your house! The smell of pancetta and sage slow cooking for hours is how I think a kitchen should smell when it’s cold and damp during the Fall season. You could easily use canned pumpkin or make the pumpkin puree yourself with this soup. Also, substituting any kind of tasty winter squash would work well with this recipe. After dicing up the veggies and pan frying the onion and pancetta, you can sit back as the soup simmers for several hours on low heat. I garnished the soup with a little crispy fried sage and toasted pumpkin seeds.
Pumpkin Soup with Pancetta and Sage
(Makes 6 Servings)
Printable Version
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 5 oz. pancetta, diced
- 2 large yellow onions, diced
- 3 carrots, halved and chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 30 oz cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 15 oz. cannellini beans, pureed with a little water
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 4 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1 lemon, zest
- 1 tsp dried sassafras (optional)
- 4 tbsp sage leaves, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- sage leaves, sauteed in butter until crispy
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
Directions:
- Heat the oil and butter in a saute pan over medium-high heat.
- Add the pancetta, onion, celery and carrot and saute on medium heat until tender, about 15 minutes.
- Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
- Combine the onion and pancetta mixture, cannellini beans, bean puree, broth, pumpkin puree, pancetta, sage, lemon zest, sassafras, and bay leaf in a 10 qt pot.
- Season with salt and pepper, simmer on low for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Serve garnished with crispy fried sage leaves and toasted pumpkin seeds.