Spicy butternut squash soup recipe

hmmmm........ this is one of my all time favourites for winter. I cheated and bought a Butternut Squash from the greengrocers this morning for £1.30- I have grown them in the past and they are delicious but they took up a lot of ground space!


So - chop up 1 onion and gently fry in olive oil. Add 2 sliced garlic cloves. Meanwhile dry toast-1 tsp of coriander seeds, 1 tsp cumin and 2 tbsp of sesame seeds- crush in a pestle and mortar then add this to the onion pan along with 1 tsp of honey and 1 tsp of lemon juice. Then add 1.5 litres of chicken stock and 4 tsps of curry powder. Place 1 chopped up butternut squash ( chop to about 1 inch square) I use a vegetable peeler to skin it first then scoop out insides with a spoon*. I had a few spare sweet potatoes lying around so I peeled and chopped those too-in the pan they go.

Boil for about 10 mins then simmer till soft. Allow to cool slightly then blend with a stick blender (less washing up). Season to taste.


*I've also experimented with roasting the butternut squash inner fleshy bits and seeds for the plump little Robin that feeds at the bird table-looks quite nice - I'll let you know how that goes!