Squash, puy lentil and prawn soup

Name: Squash, puy lentil and prawn soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 6 - 8
Ingredients: 75 g (3oz) each carrots, onions, celery and leeks; 175 g (6oz) Puy lentils; 75 g (3oz) butter; 2 garlic cloves; 900ml (11⁄2 pints) fish stock; 200 mL (7fl oz) vermouth; 142 mL (5fl oz) carton double cream; 2 thyme sprigs; 2 bay leaves; Salt and ground black pepper; 68 small squashes, each weighing about 700g (11⁄2lb); 1824 large raw prawns; Chives to garnish

Vegetarians need not miss out on this lentil soup recipe, instead use vegetable stock and omit prawns.

By The Good Housekeeping Cookery TeamPublished: 12 December 1997

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Yields:

6 - 8

Prep Time:

20 mins

Cook Time:

55 mins

Total Time:

1 hr 15 mins

Ingredients

75 g (3oz) each carrots, onions, celery and leeks
175 g (6oz) Puy lentils
75 g (3oz) butter
2 garlic cloves
900ml (11⁄2 pints) fish stock
200 ml (7fl oz) vermouth
142 ml (5fl oz) carton double cream
2 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
Salt and ground black pepper
68 small squashes, each weighing about 700g (11⁄2lb)
1824 large raw prawns
Chives to garnish

Directions

1. Step 1
  Roughly chop the carrots, onions, celery and leeks. Rinse the lentils in cold water.
2. Step 2
  Heat 50g (2oz) butter and cook vegetables, stirring occasionally, for 5min. Add crushed garlic; cook for 1min. Stir in lentils, stock, 150ml (1/4 pint) vermouth, cream, herbs, seasoning and 300ml (1/2 pint) water. Bring to boil; cover and simmer for 40-45min until vegetables are tender; discard herbs.
3. Step 3
  Meanwhile, trim the bases of the squashes so they are flat and cut the tops off at the stalk end; scoop out the seeds. Place squashes in a roasting tin; cook at 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6 for 40min or until tender. Scoop out some of the flesh and add to the soup. Cool slightly; liquidise in batches in a food processor until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve, if you like, and adjust the seasoning.
4. Step 4
  If soup is too thick, dilute with stock or water, return to the wiped-out pan and keep warm. Peel and de-vein the prawns; rinse in cold water. Place in a pan with remaining butter and vermouth. Simmer for 2–3min until prawns turn pink. Strain prawn liquid into the soup. Ladle into hollowed-out squashes; garnish with the prawns and chives.
  
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To freeze

Complete soup to the end of step 3, then cool quickly, pack and freeze. To serve thaw the soup overnight at cool room temperature, then complete the recipe.

Per Serving:

Calories: 470

What to read next

The Good Housekeeping Cookery Team

An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).

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