The CHICKPEA, PUMPKIN AND POTATO SOUP is the perfect comfort food to prepare on cold autumn and winter days, when you crave warm dishes with soft flavors that make you imagine sitting around a lit fireplace. This soup is simple and nutritious, also perfect for vegan friends and, above all, really full of flavor.
The combination of ingredients follows the best peasant tradition: potatoes, ever-present in creamy soups; chickpeas, which add a slightly firm texture and provide a satisfying caloric contribution; and pumpkin, the season’s staple vegetable, whose sweetness enhances the dish’s taste and nutritional richness while giving a lovely color to the whole.
Slow cooking, the aroma of the vegetable broth and, once removed from the heat, a generous grind of freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil complete the dish, making it worthy of any table, from the family dinner to a gathering with picky friends.
SEE OTHER AUTUMN COMFORT FOODS:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 12 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 2/3 cups potatoes (diced (approx. 250 g))
- 2 1/2 cups butternut squash (peeled and cubed (approx. 350 g))
- 4 1/4 cups vegetable broth (celery, carrot, onion (1 L))
- Half stalk celery
- Half onion
- 1 carrot
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- Parmesan (rinds)
- to taste salt
Tools
- 2 Pots
- 1 Immersion blender
Steps
Making the CHICKPEA, PUMPKIN AND POTATO SOUP is very simple. If you use dried chickpeas, which I recommend, you should start the preparation the evening before.
Soak the dried chickpeas in cold water for 12 hours. The next day fill a pot with water, add one unpeeled garlic clove, the drained and rinsed chickpeas and boil them for 1 hour, seasoning with coarse salt 10 minutes before they finish cooking.
Drain them and let them cool.
Prepare the vegetable broth with celery, carrot and onion. To speed things up you can use bouillon cubes.
In a saucepan add a drizzle of oil, some rosemary and sauté a chopped mix of aromatics: celery, carrot and onion.
Add the potatoes cut into chunks and let them sweat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chickpeas, cover with hot broth and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the peeled, seeded and cubed squash, the Parmesan rinds (from which you should have scraped the outer exposed part with a knife to remove the area where dirt and bacteria can accumulate), season with salt, cover with more broth and simmer gently until cooked. It should take about 20 minutes.
When cooked, remove one or two ladles of the mixture and blend them until smooth to obtain a creamy texture.
Return it to the pot and cook for another 5 minutes, adding more broth if the soup becomes too thick. The chickpea, pumpkin and potato soup should be creamy rather than dry.
Turn off the heat, let the chickpea, pumpkin and potato soup rest for 5 minutes and serve, finishing each bowl with a grating of black pepper and a drizzle of oil.
