Soup

Apparently we should be eating up to three liquid meals a week. To give our tummies a rest from all that digesting I guess. Often, us silly humans think we’re hungry when really, we’re just thirsty. All we’re actually craving is something substantial and preferably warm to keep us satisfied.

At this lovely time of year, a good soup provides a warming and nostalgic alternative to another heavy meal. Not only is it easy on the stomach, but it’s also good for the soul. Nothing says homemade with care better than a heartily crafted soup.

In my view, butternut squash soup is the king of all soups. The flesh, when roasted, sweetly caramelises like no other vegetable. When blitzed, it collapses in to the silkiest consistency and becomes a smooth and delicious pleasure to eat.

As with the risotto form last week, and for every time you want to make a soup, a good stock is required to take everything to the next level. However,another reason why I’ve crowned this soup king is because; as the roasted vegetables are so pungent, your basic vegetable stock-cube will do just fine.

Butternut Squash Soup

1 small squash - Butternut or acorn

1 or 2 onions - roughly chopped

2 cloves of roughly chopped garlic

500ml (ish) - stock

1 or 2 carrots and/or sweet potato - peeled and chopped into chunks (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 220’C.
2. If you have a big squash, cut it into wedges. If it is fairly small then just chop it in half. Drizzle with olive oil and season - I used salt, my herbed pepper and some ground cumin.
3. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until golden-brown and soft when prodded with a knife.  Do the same with the sweet potatoes and carrots if using or add to the boiling stock in step 6. 
4. Meanwhile, chop the onions and garlic and gently fry in a large saucepan in a knob of butter for 20 minutes.
5. Take the squash out and leave until cool enough to handle. Then either peel the skin off the wedges and cut in to chunks or scoop the flesh from the halves and plop them in to the pan of golden onions.
6. Now add the hot stock so that it covers the vegetables. Pour in more hot water or some full fat milk if you need to.
7. Simmer gently for 20 minutes or so then whizz in blender in batches. If it still looks a bit on the thin side, pour it back in the pan and reduce until the desired consistency. 
8. Serve with a drizzle of creme fraiche or cream, and a scattering of dried chilli flakes.