Squash and Sausage Orzo Soup: Eating Seasonally

This humble soup has simple ingredients but is certainly not lacking in flavor. Healthy fats from the pasture-raised pork, seasonal flavors from the butternut and sage, and comforting carbs from the orzo pasta make this frugal meal one to keep! This recipe is great to make in autumn when butternuts can be found in abundance or in the depths of winter when no fresh vegetables are to be seen, but those squashes in the root cellar need used up.

You’ll notice that a lot of my savory recipes on the blog and in my ebooks call for salt and pepper to taste rather than a specific amount. Why is this? Well, it’s because salt is a very personalized thing that will differ from person to person. It also encourages my readers to be comfortable in the kitchen and divert from rigid recipes. They key is to layer your salt. Begin with a sprinkle while you brown the meat, a bit more while you saute the onions, when you add the broth, etc. Salt draws out flavor, so adding a little bit at each step results in a more flavorful soup. Once it’s close to serving time, give the soup a taste and see if any more is needed. It’s always better to add less and have to add more.

This is a quick and simple recipe that can be on the table in under an hour. Enjoy!

What you need:

• 1 pound of pasture-raised pork sausage, ground

• 1 sweet or yellow onion, chopped

• 1 bulb of garlic, crushed

• 4 cups of butternut squash, cubed

• 4 cups of bone broth

• Handful of fresh or dried sage leaves

• Salt + pepper to taste

• 1/2 cup of orzo pasta, uncooked

STEP 1:

Begin by browning the ground sausage in a large stainless steel or cast iron soup pot. Once there is no more pink, transfer the sausage to a bowl and set it aside, leaving the grease in the pot.

STEP 2:

In the leftover sausage grease, saute the onions for about 4-5 minutes or until they become translucent. If you are using pasture-raised pork which tends to be a bit leaner, you may need to add a tablespoon extra of lard or butter.

STEP 3:

Add the crushed garlic and chopped sage leaves to the onions and saute for 1 minute more.

STEP 4:

Add in the bone broth, the butternut squash, and cover the pot with a lid. Bring this to a boil and then turn down the heat, allowing it to simmer for about 10 minutes.

STEP 5:

Add the ground sausage back in and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes more until the squash is soft and the flavors have melded. Salt and pepper to taste (see my note above about layering salt).

STEP 6:

While the soup is on its final simmer, cook the orzo pasta in a separate pan according to the box instructions.

STEP 7:

Dish up the soup and add in a spoonful of orzo pasta. Serve with toasted buttery sourdough bread. Enjoy!

For more seasonal recipes like this one…

Harvest and Home is a collection of recipes for autumn and winter. Warming, nourishing, and traditional— this ebook is like taking a look at Kaetlyn’s personal recipe box.

In 40+ pages, Kaetlyn shares recipes and food ideas that celebrate harvest and home. This ebook will equip you to eat seasonally in autumn and winter with various recipes such as: Craisin Sourdough Loaf, Butternut Sage Soup, Pumpkin French Toast, Harvest Salsa, Sourdough Sausage Stuffing, and more! Collected, created, tweaked, passed down— these are now yours to make and master. Let us return to real food and true nourishment together this season.