The cost per serving below is generated by Whisk. Trim, halve and wash the leek and peel the garlic, then finely slice with the broccoli stalks, reserving the florets for later. Place the sliced veg in a large casserole pan over a medium heat with the butter, then strip in the thyme leaves and substitute for leeks for 15 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly.

Stir in the flour, followed slowly by the milk, then simmer for 10 minutes, or until thickened, stirring regularly. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for 5 minutes, then drain. Grate the Parmesan and most of the Cheddar into the sauce, and mix well. Season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper, then stir through the pasta and broccoli florets, loosening with a splash of milk, if needed. Transfer to a 25cm x 35cm baking dish, grate over the remaining Cheddar and scatter over the almonds. Bake for 30 minutes, or until beautifully golden and bubbling.

Use Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire in place of the Cheddar here. You could use 2 onions instead of the leek. Switch out the spinach for any kind of exciting fresh or frozen greens, discarding the tough stalks. Substitute the Parmesan for vegetarian hard cheese.

Try blitzing garlic and fresh or dried herbs, like rosemary, oregano or thyme, into your crumbs. Finely grating in a little lemon zest will add a hint of freshness. A couple of anchovy fillets would be delicious. Add a pinch of dried red chilli flakes if you like some heat. This hearty butternut squash lentil soup is a comforting and nutrient dense soup full of super foods, featuring lentils, kale, and leeks. This hearty butternut squash lentil soup is a comforting and nutrient dense superfood soup, featuring lentils, kale, and leeks.

Ready for the coziest, most comforting superfood soup? This butternut squash lentil soup tastes like a bowl of sunshine. It’s chock full of beautiful, colorful healthy ingredients, and it tastes surprisingly more delicious than you’d imagine from the humble ingredients. Using leeks brings a complexity to the body of the soup. The only part about this superfood soup that requires some time is chopping the vegetables. How to make butternut squash lentil soup This butternut squash lentil soup is filled with nutrient-rich foods like lentils, butternut squash, leeks, and Swiss chard.

It’s also very, very tasty — it gets rave reviews from friends and family alike. The only time consuming part of this soup recipe is the chopping. It requires quite a bit of vegetable chopping: garlic, carrot, leek, butternut squash, and kale. As a time saver, you could chop all the veggies in advance and refrigerate until making the soup: this could make it a 30 minute meal. Another option is to use frozen cubed butternut squash, which can shave off quite a bit of time. How to cut butternut squash The hardest part of making this butternut squash lentil soup is cutting the butternut squash! Here’s what Alex and I do: First, slice off top of the squash, then the entire straight neck of the squash.

Peel it and peel the round base. Cut the base in half and remove the seeds from each half with a spoon. Slice the neck into strips and then cubes. Cutting leeks can also be a source of confusion. Here’s how we cut leeks: first, we chop off the dark green stems of the leeks and the bottom root, then slice them in half length-wise. Then we place each leek half cut-side down on the cutting board and chop it into thin slices, resulting in half-moon shapes. Peel and chop the carrots into half moons.

Place each leek half cut-side down on the cutting board, then chop it into thin half-moons. Rinse thoroughly in a colander to remove any dirt. Slice off the neck of the squash and peel it with a vegetable peeler. Slice the base in half and scoop out the seeds. Slice the neck into thin rectangles, then into long slices.

Turn the slices the other way and dice. You can also wait to do this step while the soup simmers in Step 6. Add carrots and garlic and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes until softened. Add the squash, vegetable broth, lentils, thyme, oregano, and kosher salt, and bring to a boil. Authors of recipes you’ll want to make again and again.