One of the most fun vegetables to grow in the summer garden is Tromboncino. A large squash variety I’d place somewhere in between a zucchini and a butternut pumpkin. If you pick them young, you can use as you would any zucchini, but if they age on the plant and grow to full size eventually you can store them like a pumpkin. At this point, they’re excellent for making a batch of this tromboncino soup recipe!
If you want to pick them for storage, wait as you would for a pumpkin, until the fruit has turned slightly orange and the stem has died off. This is a sign the skin has hardened sufficiently. Clip it from the plant leaving a good chunk of stalk on the fruit, wipe it down with a little white vinegar to make sure it’s clean and then place in your pantry until needed.
Ingredients
- 2 kg tromboncino squash (fairly average fully grown size)
- 2 onions
- 3 cubes chicken or vegetable stock
- Olive oil, salt and black pepper
- 8 cloves of garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 Tbsp dried rosemary
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- Chilli flakes to taste
- Garnishes if you like: Yoghurt, coriander, cubed fried halloumi
Tromboncino Soup Recipe
- Preheat your oven to 180’C
- Chop tromboncino into large chunks
- Chop onion into wedges
- Place onion and tromboncino on an oven tray and smother with olive oil and season. Roast for one hour at 180’C.
- Put 1.5 cups of water in a big soup pot, add spices (garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, cumin and chilli flakes) and stock. Bring to a simmer.
- Scoop flesh from the tromboncino skins and add to pot along with roasted onions.
- Simmer with lid on for 45min.
- Remove bay leaves, blend together and add salt and pepper to your taste.
- Garnish if you like with yoghurt, fresh coriander or fried cubed halloumi.
- Enjoy your freshly made tromboncino soup!