Recipe Background
Even if your hometown doesn't do harvest festivals to welcome the fall, you can have one all on your own! All you need is some Harvest Festival Soup and an appreciation for cooler weather! This soup is creamy and nourishing, filled with tender bites of squash and egg noodles, topped with fragrant and succulent rosemary-bacon, and parmesan cheese (instant happiness in cheese form). Celebrate autumn with this Harvest Festival Soup!
Even if your hometown doesn't do harvest festivals to welcome the fall, you can have one all on your own! All you need is some Harvest Festival Soup and an appreciation for cooler weather! This soup is creamy and nourishing, filled with tender bites of squash and egg noodles, topped with fragrant and succulent rosemary-bacon, and parmesan cheese (instant happiness in cheese form). Celebrate autumn with this Harvest Festival Soup!
Ingredients
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon chopped
- 1 tablespoon rosemary chopped
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves can substitute 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano plus more, to taste, fresh sprigs, for topping
- 1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cups butternut squash cubed
- 4 carrots chopped
- 4 celery stalks chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- chili flakes to taste
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 cups kale roughly chopped
- 1 (14-ounce) can white beans drained
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese grated, plus more, to taste, for topping
- 2 cups egg noodles
Directions
- In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, add the bacon and cook, while stirring, until crisp, about 5 minutes. During the last minute of cooking, add the rosemary.
- Transfer the rosemary-bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate and set it aside.
- Reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings in the Dutch oven, draining the remainder.
- In the same Dutch oven with the bacon drippings over medium heat, add the onions, the garlic, the thyme, the basil, 1 tablespoon of the dried oregano, the fennel, the paprika, the salt, and the black pepper and cook, while stirring, until fragrant, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer the onion mixture to a slow cooker.
- Add the tomato paste, the butternut squash, the carrots, and the celery to the onion mixture in the slow cooker, stirring to combine.
- Add the wine, the broth, and the chili flakes to the onion mixture in the slow cooker and stir to combine.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 6-8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high. During the last 15 minutes of cooking time, add the heavy cream, the kale, the beans, 1/3 cup of the parmesan, and the noodles and stir to combine.
- Serve the soup topped with the rosemary-bacon, the extra parmesan, and the extra fresh oregano sprigs.
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