Roasted Squash Soup

INGREDIENTS

• Large squash or pumpkin, any variety
• Rosemary
• Some cloves of garlic
• Olive oil
• Leek
• Celery
• Stock
• Any other root veg from the fridge
• Chilli oil (to garnish)

We make this soup on a loop in the Autumn. It is delicious. The recipe is part of the Saturday Soup brigade - aka any sad veggies languishing in the bottom of the fridge can happily go in, just chop and sauté with the onion. 

Roast the squash by chopping it in half, scooping out the seeds and scoring the flesh. Pop some garlic cloves (unpeeled) in each side of squash alongside the rosemary and a drizzle of olive oil. Roast at 180˚ (ish, we have a temperamental Aga so the temperature is less important than keeping an eye on it) for around an hour until soft.  

Meanwhile, sauté the leek and celery (and any thing else you'd like to pop in there) until soft and then add the roasted flesh and a few of the roasted garlic cloves too. Stir to break down the squash and add a pint of stock (chicken or veg, depending on who might eat it) and blitz the lot with a food processor until it's silky and smooth. You can adjust the thickness at this point with more stock, always best to make it too thick initially. 

Garnish with some chickpeas fried in smoked paprika until crisp, or just a swirl of chilli oil - a staple in our household (we use this one) Serve in your Feldspar Cereal Bowl, although some prefer to have their soup in our shallower Pasta Bowl. 

P.S. This way of roasting a pumpkin or squash is so easy and so delicious and is why I both grow and hoard squash at this time of year. The possibilities are endless - from salads to risotto or just as a delicious side dish, scooped straight on the table.