My favourite recipe for butternut soup with warming spices of ginger and a dash of curry. You can roast the butternut before for added depth of flavour.
Approx 1 litre – 1 litre plus 250ml of vegetable stockI used 3 good stock cubes or 4 stock sachets to 1 litre/ 1.25 litres of water
Juice of 1 orangeor 2 clementines
Cream to finish
Dukkha to sprinkle or other toasted seeds and nuts
Instructions
Toss the butternut, sweet potatoes and carrots lightly in olive oil, spread out onto a baking tray and season with salt & pepper. Roast in an oven that has been preheated to 180C/350F for 35 – 40 minutes until they just start taking on some colour and are just cooked through. Alternatively, skip this step.
In a large heavy-based pot add the olive oil and butter and sweat the onions/leeks/celery until soft. Put the lid on to generate some steam which helps the sweating.
Once soft, add the bay leaves, parsley, garlic and spices and cook for a minute or two until fragrant and just starting to stick to the bottom of the pot
If you are adding the roasted or uncooked vegetables do so now and immediately add the stock and orange juice. Cover and allow to simmer over a gentle heat for about 45 minutes. If the vegetables are uncooked, cook for about an hour. Take this off the heat, allow to cool slightly, or if you have a metal stick blender you can process this soup while it is still hot.
Remove the bay leaves and then process the soup with a handheld stick blender or in a liquidiser/food processor until smooth.
Serve with fresh cream/coconut cream and dukkha if you have. Chopped roasted nuts and seeds also work really nicely. A nice crusty loaf of bread is mandatory in my opinion too.
Notes
Butternut soup freezes really well. Just thaw and reheat in a small pot as needed.