The Incredible Smugness of Soup...

I love squash. I love the look of them, the colour of them and they are both delicious and easy to cook.   However, I don't like faffing about trying to peel them and chop them so any recipe that doesn't involve me skinning my knuckles trying to do just that is a good one by me!

Last week I decided to go crazy and buy a butternut squash from Aldi for all of 89p. I used it to make the most delicious, but incredible simple soup.  Honestly it couldn't be easier, it's the kind of thing you shove  in the oven and leave whilst you get in with something more important. 

You simply:

Scrub the skin of your butternut squash really well. This is important as it forms part of the meal. Chop it in half, remove the seeds and put them to one side.

Rub the flesh with olive oil, season and place in a roasting tray together with two fairly large potatoes and one red onion.  I hate this picture, it makes my baking tray look hideously grubby, but trust me it is clean, just well loved!!! I also added one clove of peeled garlic which I halved. Each half went into the neat little hole in the squash. 

Bake the whole lot in the oven for around 45 mins to 1 hour, until lovely and squashy (excuse the pun, hahahaha).

On a separate tray place the washed and dried squash seeds coated with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Toast the seeds for around 10 minutes until they look crunchy and golden. 

Once the vegetables have cooked and they're lovely and soft, scoop them out if their skins and add them to vegetable stock.  Blend until nice and smooth.  Heat through so it's lovely and piping hot.  I use the end pieces of sliced bread, which nobody in our house seems to like eating, so make croutons.  Chopped into little squares, and toasted in a pan with a little salt and a little butter.  Don't do what I did and get distracted by a spot of washing up, as those pesky, but delicious little squares can catch in moments.  Lesson learnt!

Serve your soup with the croutons and the toasted seeds on top.  Forgot to take a picture, belly over brain.....

In fact, one squash and two potatoes made so much soup I had to refrigerate some to have for my lunch another day!  Not bad huh?

Are you a soup lover or a soup hater?  Do you make your own?  If anyone can suggest any flavours to try out I'd love to hear your recipes, I'm always on the look out!

Love, love,