Foody Friday: Scrumptious Soup

The cold air is blowing into the UK now and it just feels ‘right’ to have a bowl of scrumptious soup as one of my ‘healthy’ options. Making a pan of hearty Butternut Squash Soup is so easy and yet SO TASTY! I vary the ingredients depending on what vegetables I’ve got and it’s a great way of using up the sticks of celery or leeks that are starting to see ‘better days’ (occasionally found lurking in the bottom of my fridge… haha)

My ingredients available this week included:

• 1 x Butternut Squash – peeled, de-seeded and chopped
• 1 x stick of celery – chopped (I would’ve used 2 sticks but the others really had seen better days so I stuck with the last decent stick in the bunch..)
• 2 x leeks
• Carrots (I had some small chardonnay carrots in the fridge so just top and tailed them and popped them in whole (no peeling)
• Onion – diced and chopped
• Ginger – either grated fresh – about 1 inch or cheat and use a small teaspoon of ginger puree..
• Dried or chopped chilli (to taste) – depending if you like it spicy or not..
• Single or double cream (optional but really adds to the taste and indulgence..)
• Vegetable and/or chicken stock (I used Knorr vegetable stock pot but you can prepare a fresh vegetable stock if you are so inclined..)

The ginger and chilli are optional – I like to add a bit of spice to contrast with the sweetness of the squash and carrots. You may prefer to just add salt and black pepper.

Method

• Peel and chop the vegetables and fry off in a large heavy bottomed pan until the onions start to go golden brown..

• Add the 1.5 pints of stock and top up with extra water if required to cover the vegetables in the pan.
• Cover and simmer for 30-40 mins until the vegetables are softened

• Add the spices (if you want a bit of extra ‘zing’) and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Blend the soup in a liquidiser or with a hand held blender until smooth

Tips:

• The soup may be too thick in consistency and can be watered down slightly with either water or milk. If adding milk, only add it to the quantity you are going to serve immediately..
• Once the soup is smooth, pop the desired amount back into the pan and heat until piping hot. Pop into serving bowl and add in some fresh cream and top with some parsley to garnish..

For ‘non diabetics’, this would be delicious with hot, crusty fresh bread… obviously bread to be avoided for the ‘healthy low carb’ option!