ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH,ONION AND GARLIC SOUP

Garlic

Post storm here in the South of England everything is looking a bit battered. Leaves and branches everywhere, luckily we have electricity and very little real damage unlike lots of people.

After the storm

The weather is getting colder though and we all want warming comfort food that is healthy. This roasted butternut squash soup is delicious and easy to make as you just prepare the vegetables which takes a few minutes and then blend  a bit later which isn’t difficult either!

Garlic and onions

The black olives add a saltiness and provide a good contrast to the smooth soup. The garlic and ginger just give a hint of warmth and don’t over power the overall taste.

So if you need a warming easy supper this Halloween I can thoroughly recommend this warming soup served with a red onion and olive focaccia.

Roasted butternut squash and onion soup

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Serves 4-6

Cooking time 40 minutes

Preparation time 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

1Butternut squash

2 red onions

3 cloves of garlic

1 ½ inch piece of ginger peeled

Splash of olive oil for roasting.

Handful of fresh rosemary

1.5 pints of vegetable stock

A few dollops of crème fraiche to serve and 10 black olives chopped to garnish.

WHAT TO DO:

1.     Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Wash then slice the butternut squash into rings about 1cm deep and place in a roasting tin. Peel and quarter the onion, peel the ginger and garlic, squash the cloves of garlic with a knife and add all to the roasting dish.  

2.     Coat the vegetables with a good slug of olive oil through in the rosemary sprigs and place in the middle of the oven for 35 minutes.

3.     When the vegetables are soft remove from the oven and transfer to a saucepan. Add the stock and let simmer for 10 minutes, and then blend.

4.     Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche and chopped black olives.

Butternut squash

 Happy Healthy Halloween.

HALLOWEEN HEAVEN and not a trick or treat in sight..yet!

Halloween pumpkin

“I’m afraid I had to leave my shoes behind, I didn’t have enough room in my case!” was the first thing my daughter said to me nearly a year ago on returning from a cultural exchange to Charlotte, North Carolina.

 I was a little surprised.

Had she brought so many presents she had forgone bringing home her shoes?

..NO!

Of course not!

She’d had an amazing time staying with a lovely buddy and her family and got to experience real family life in the States including school, football matches, and Halloween.

She adored the dressing up in spooky costumes, the pumpkins, the sweets- candy that they all collected.. In fact her suitcase was crammed full of the remaining Halloween candy she had so generously collected whilst trick or treating!

Forget the shoes; I don’t think I had ever seen so many sweets outside a sweetshop...

As things have been rather low key due to the dreaded Glandular Fever that has hit Teen V I decided that maybe this year I should get a few pumpkins and let her create her own Halloween world here!! 

Bit of a come down from last years Halloween heaven but hey..

Little did I realize how popular an idea this would be. There has been endless planning and drawing of ideas from tomb stones to witches and ghosts and carving is taking place as I type.

As I hate wasting food any spare pumpkin has been used in a soup.

Very frugal of me I know.

Pumpkin and sweetcorn soup

 I used the Waitrose spicy pumpkin and sweet corn soup recipe that they have in their magazine at the moment. It wasn’t as spicy as I would have liked but went down well with everyone once we’d added a little more seasoning to the pot.

So if you have any spare pumpkins and need a good healthy lunch I can recommend this recipe.

Spicy pumpkin soup with toasted sunflower seeds

SPICY PUMPKIN & SWEETCORN SOUP

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 40

Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

1 kg pumpkin peeled & cut into chunks

25g sunflower seeds

2 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 large onion roughly chopped

1tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 litre vegetable stock

1 small can sweetcorn approx 195g

1 small can of coconut cream approx 160g

Salt and pepper to taste

WHAT TO DO:

1.     Preheat the oven to 200degrees c. Cut the pumpkin into chunks and then place on a baking sheet in the oven for 20 minutes or until soft.

2.     Put the sunflower seeds in to roast for 5 minutes- be careful not to let these burn..they taste horrible if you leave the in for too long..Trust me!

3.     Heat the olive oil and fry the onion and garlic until soft then add the chilli and coriander and fry for one minute.

4.     Add the pumpkin and pour over the stock. Drain the sweet corn and add with the coconut cream and then bring to the boil.

5.     Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and blitz the mixture up and serve with sprinkles of roasted sunflower seeds on top. Don’t forget to taste and add salt and pepper before you serve.

I think this would be good if you mixed sweet potato or butternut squash with the pumpkin. Just make sure you season it well. If nothing else it will line the stomach well for all the trick or treat sweets!

Toasted sunflower seeds

Happy Halloween!