Planet Veggie

Two friends said on Facebook how nice pumpkin soup was and I said if it was anything like butternut squash, then I couldn’t be bothered with trying to peel it and one of them said no, you just cut it in half and scoop the flesh out, so I thought oh, ok then, pumpkin soup this week it is.

Unfortunately, is turned into was, as Tesco had no pumpkins (why didn’t I think of this a week earlier?) and so butternut squash it was.  My original recipe called for buttermilk but I couldn’t find it in Tesco (where would it be?  I looked on the fresh milk aisle, the long life milk aisle and near the cooking ingredients but couldn’t find it) and so as my original recipe called for a pumpkin and buttermilk and I came home with butternut squash and no buttermilk, I thought I’d better find a new recipe.

I found this recipe which is a Gary Rhodes’ recipe and I’ve decided that Gary Rhodes is either a) a spiky-haired tight git; or b) anorexic or c) neither of the above and I’m just a fat pig, as his recipe says that it serves 4 but I had a third extra amount of butternut squash and stock and it only serves three.

Still, even though it didn’t make a huge amount and it was a pain in the you know what peeling that butternut squash, the soup was thick, creamy, velvety smooth, delicious and a gorgeous orange colour.

Hurry up tomorrow lunchtime.

Butternut squash soup
Prep time: 10 mins [I took flipping ages peeling the butternut squash]
Cook time: 40 mins
Serves 4: [more like 3 and that’s with my extra butternut squash and stock]

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
675g butternut squash seeds removed and cubed [I used just over 800g I think]
1/2 tsp ground ginger [I used about 3/4 tsp to go with the extra squash and stock]
600ml vegetable stock [I used 900ml, as I didn’t use orange juice [see below] and had extra butternut squash]
100ml orange juice [I didn’t use this as I’m not a fan of sweet stuff in my food]
salt and black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan.  Add the onions and garlic to the pan and fry until softened, but not coloured.
2. Tip in the butternut squash and add the ginger.  Cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.
3. Add the stock and orange juice and simmer for about 30 minutes until the squash is tender.
4. Leave the soup to cool slightly, before pureeing with a hand blender until smooth.  Season to taste, reheat if necessary and serve.

Ingredients