Butternut Squash Soup with Turkey Meatballs and Tortellini

With the coming of Autumn, soup season is officially part of our lives again. 

Now, I do know that like us, many of you eat soup all year round.  But for some reason, once the weather turns colder, requiring sweaters and scarves, then soup truly becomes part of the weekly menu.  Which is fine by me!

Gourds and squashes of all sorts make the best base for cozy, comfy soups.  Their rich, creamy texture (read: velvet, if puréed well!) become the most delicate and yet robust soups.  And they take wonderfully to all sorts of spices.  You can take these veggies and go visit Thailand, or India, or Spain, or Mexico, or even good ole North America with some sage and brown butter.

But here’s a little pet peeve of mine.  I’m not a huge fan of just the creamy soup.  I need more texture in my soup.  I know, it sounds weird that I’m just not content with all that velvety goodness.  But that’s me.  And funnily enough, it’s Jim as well.  If I serve him soup that is just puréed veggies, he thinks he won’t be satisfied, and goes looking into the kitchen for more food.  Of course I could serve a salad and crusty bread on the side.  But if I want soup to be the meal (which come on, if we’ve gone to all that work, it should be enough to constitute dinner) then I need to add stuff to the soup.  Then for some reason, we are both content.

So what do I add to butternut squash or pumpkin?  I add turkey meatballs.  And tortellini.  With both of those, this soup definitely becomes a full fledged meal in our eyes.  The turkey, the sage, and the apple in the recipe makes this a true Autumn meal.

And here’s another little secret: If I don’t want to go to the bother of making meatballs from scratch, I just purchase some good turkey sausages.  After removing the casings, I divide each sausage into 5, 6 or even 8 sections (depending on the size of the sausage links) and roll each section into a meatball.  They are already seasoned, so my work is done.  The meatballs are about 1 inch in diameter.  And if you see sausages on sale, grab a bunch, roll them all out, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze.  Once frozen they can be placed into freezer bags.  Now you have meatballs ready to go for all sorts of soups!

Tortellini is another one of those great little shortcuts.  Ready made and filled with a variety of options, you can purchase your favourite type and store them in the freezer.  You probably won’t need them all for one meal, so the rest can wait till the next time you have a craving for them. 

This recipe is really a simple, classic squash soup, with sage, spices and a bit of heat for flavouring.  It doesn’t take long to have the cubed squash and onions to cook down to being soft enough to purée.  While the soup is simmering away, you can roast off the meatballs in the oven to get some lovely browning.  They can finish cooking through in the puréed soup.  While this is happening, cook up the tortellini in a pot of water.  Once they are cooked through, drain them and add to the soup.  Voila, a hearty and tasty soup that has something for everyone!

Finish off the soup with a drizzle of olive oil and some sage.  If you take the time to brown some butter and crisp up the sage leaves, all the better!

This is a perfect weeknight meal.   You could still add a side salad and crusty bread, but at least you know that the soup is hearty enough to stand on its own!

Love Jen

5 from 2 votes

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Butternut Squash Soup with Turkey Meatballs and Tortellini

A rich, velvety soup is enhanced with easy peasy turkey meatballs and the tortellini of your choice.  This becomes autumn in a bowl by the time you are ready to eat.  Pure comfort, and a heartwarming meal.

Course Soup

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 3-4 turkey sausages uncooked
• 1 large onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbsp butter or oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon aleppo pepper , can also use cayenne if this is all you have
• pinch of ground cinnamon and nutmeg
• 4 cups butternut squash cubed
• 1 carrot peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 apple peeled, cored and roughly chopped
• 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
• 1 large sprig fresh sage
• 1/2 cup heavy cream creme fraiche or canned (unsweetened) coconut milk
• 12 oz frozen tortellini your choice of flavour

Garnishes, all are optional. Use any that appeal to you

• 4 tbp fresh chopped apple toss them in a little lemon juice to keep them from browning till serving
• 4 medium sized sage leaves
• 4 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
• 4 tbsp crisped bacon or pancetta, chopped into lardons

Instructions

Turkey Sausage Meatballs

1. These can be made ahead of time.
2. Remove the casings from the turkey sausages.
3. Divide each uncased sausage link into 1 inch sections (depending on the size of the sausage, you should get between 5 and 7 or so sections)
4. With dampened hands, roll each section into a ball. Place each onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Once it is filled, place it into the freezer to freeze the meatballs. From this point you can freeze them all, use them all, or a bit of both. You will want 5 or so meatballs per person.

Soup

1. Using a stock pot, sauté the onion in the butter or oil over medium high heat for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes. Do not let them brown though.
2. Add the salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir to coat.
3. Add the squash cubes, the carrot and the apple. Toss to mix things up.
4. Add the stock and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer, and add the rosemary and sage sprigs. Cover and let cook till the veggies are tender and can be mashed with a fork.
5. Remove from the heat and remove the rosemary and sage sprigs.
6. Using an immersion blender (or a stand blender) blend until it is as smooth as velvet. Add the cream.
7. Taste and re-season as desired.
8. Place the pot of soup back onto the heat (medium low) See below for the next step.

Meatballs

1. When starting the soup, preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Place the meatballs onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 15 minutes. Turn them once or twice. They should have started to brown nicely. They will finish cooking in the soup.
3. Add them to the soup once the soup has been puréed and is back on the heat.
4. Leaving the lid partially covered, simmer the meatballs for another 10 minutes or so.

Tortellini

1. While the soup is almost finished simmering, prepare the tortellini as per the package directions.
2. This usually involves a pot of salted water brought to a boil, and adding the tortellini. Cook till just tender.
3. Add these to the soup with the cooked meatballs.
4. The soup can be garnished with chopped fresh apple, fresh sage leaves, olive oil, cracked black pepper, even crisped bacon or pancetta lardons.

Recipe Notes

If you are going to the bother of preparing JUST enough meatballs, why not purchase double the amount needed, prep all sorts of meatballs and then freeze the ones you don't need. This way you will have them ready to go for other soups.

The soup itself is a gentle riff on Gimme Some Oven's version, here.