Vegtember: Butternut Squash Soup

It is starting to get cold again, and as always when cold my thoughts turn to soups and stews. I cant help thinking a stew might be pretty disappointing sans meat. But most soups I cook are Vegetarian anyhow, so I thought that soup was most definitely the way to go!

So I decided to go to the grocers and just to see what takes my fancy. They had a number of Butternut Squashes that looked ripe and lovely so I snapped them up. I like soup to be hearty, tasty, peppery and a little spicy. If you are not a fan of spicy stuff just halve (or totally omit) the cayenne pepper.

Nice Soup, shame about the bowl.

Ingredients

Two Medium Butternut Squash

Two Onions

4 Cloves of Garlic

1 ½ Pints of Vegetable Stock

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Ground Cumin

Pinch Rosemary

Pinch of Sage

2 Bay Leaves

Lots of Black Pepper

Nutmeg

First off dee-seed and peel the Squashes, then brush them all over with olive oil, then cut into biggish pieces (an inch and a half square). Roast in the oven at about 150 degrees C with four cloves of garlic (with the skin still on) for about 45 to an hour, turning the squash once, until it is starting to change colour.

In the mean time sweat the onion in a casserole dish until it is soft but not caramelised. At this point add the squash and (after removing the skin) the garlic. Put the Vegetable stock and all the herbs and spices into the mixture. Transfer the casserole dish into the Oven (turning it down to about 125 degrees) and cook for about an hour or so until everything is going nicely mushy.

Lastly remove the bay leaves and give the whole thing a good whush with your hand blender, does not have to be totally creamy, I like a few lumpy bits in a soup. Serve with a dollop of crème freiche and some chopped parsley

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18. September 2010 by Ralph Ferrett
Categories: Activism, Food | Tags: , , , , | 2 comments

Comments (2)

  1. Veg stews can be quite nice. Put lots of beans in, maybe a bit of smoked paprika. And top with dumplings.

    • You know one of my colleagues at work was suggesting dumplings to me, whenever I have tried them they have, in the past, been unmitigated failures everytime.

      Perhaps this will be the hour (or crazy project month) of my dumpling destiny!

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