Butternut squash and apple soup with cheesy chicken toasties

To mark COP26, which is taking place in the UK for the first time in Glasgow on 31st October, we’ve developed some recipes to show you how we can all go #OneStepGreener and make delicious and sustainable dinners.

The brilliant butternut squash is one of our favourite ever ingredients. Super seasonal, cheap and incredibly versatile it’s one of our go-to veggies at this time of year. It makes the best soup, it’s fab roasted, mashed and the seeds which you must never throw away make a delicious snack or topping.

Here we’ve made a soup and saved half of the butternut squash puree for a pasta bake (check back soon for the recipe!). And if you have any chicken leftover from a weekend roast then these toasties really turn it into a memorable meal, use whatever cheese you have in the fridge and pimp out with the condiments of your choosing.

Do let us know if you make this recipe and show us how you are going #OneStepGreener!

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the soup
1 large butternut squash peeled and deseeded (save the seeds!)
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 apple, peeled and diced
750ml water
500ml semi skimmed or whole milk
12 sage leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp crème fraîche

For the toasties
2 tbsp olive oil
4 slices bread 
Leftover chicken 
100g cheddar or mild hard cheese
2 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp pickle

Instructions

Turn the oven to 180 degrees fan.

Dice the butternut squash and place on a roasting tray. Scatter with the seeds, chilli flakes and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 30-40 minutes until soft and beginning to brown. Set aside to cool.

Add the onion to a saucepan with a little oil and sauté until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and apple and cook for a further minute until just soft transfer to a blender with the butternut squash and water, season well and blitz to a smooth puree, gradually adding milk to get the required soup consistency. At this point you can use this all for soup or use half for our butternut squash pasta bake.

In a frying pan fry the sage leaves in a little oil (don’t throw away the oil!) until crispy – around 1-2 minutes.

To make the toasties spread the mustard and pickle onto four slices of bread, top with the chicken and cheese and another slice of bread. Fry each side for 2 mins in the leftover sage oil until brown and the cheese has melted.

To serve, pour the soup into a bowl and dollop a tablespoon of crème fraiche on top, scatter the leaves around along with any remaining oil..

Did you make this recipe?

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