Butternut squash soup with ricotta dumplings

This recipe suggestion is by Sarah Randell, at Sainsbury's magazine. It is a chunky butternut soup with ricotta dumplings, and makes a filling meal and a particularly fine autumn / winter lunch ... the amount of carbohydrate per serving is 21.6g so some, living the LCHF lifestyle, may find this too much ... but as always dear reader, the choice is yours.

Ingredients:
Serves Four
1 medium butternut squash
3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra
4 shallots, chopped
2 sticks of celery chopped
25 g butter, plus extra
750 ml vegetable stock
a few whole sage leaves

For the ricotta dumplings:
250 g ricotta
1 large egg yolk
3 tbsp grated pecorino
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp finely chopped sage

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Peel and de-seed the squash; cut three-quarters into chunks and season. Roast for 35-40 minutes in a tin with half the oil. Dice the remaining squash.
2. Soften the shallots and celery in the butter and remaining oil. Purée the roast squash in a blender with half the stock; add to the shallots and celery with all the stock and diced squash; simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Combine the dumpling ingredients. In a frying pan, fry spoonfuls of the mixture in butter and oil over a low-medium heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Fry the whole sage leaves in butter.
4. Serve the soup topped with the dumplings and frizzled sage leaves.

Get ahead: make to the end of step 2 up to 2 days ahead; you can freeze the soup at this point, too.

Each serving provides
21.6g carbohydrate 3.4g fibre 10.4g protein 26.0g fat

Recipe idea from here

The colour of downy sage leaves and their flavour varies but, in essence, sage is a very strongly aromatic and slightly bitter herb that can withstand long cooking times without losing its flavour.

The strong flavour of sage means that a little goes a long way, especially if you're using dried leaves, so use sparingly. Sage goes well with pork, beef, duck and chicken recipes, and fatty meats in particular. In Italy it is commonly chopped, mixed with melted butter and served stirred into pasta or gnocchi. Fry sage leaves with liver or kidneys, or try dipping them into a light batter and deep-frying - they can be used to garnish dishes or eaten as a snack.

Words and picture about sage taken from here

As regular readers will know, we bring a variety of articles, studies etc. plus recent news/views and recipe ideas to this blog, we hope something for everyone to read and enjoy.... but please note, not all may be suitable for you.

If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.

All the best Jan