Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Chilli & Ginger

The other night, I watched Home Cooking Made Easy with Lorraine Pascale. I was really impressed at how simple her recipes were, without compromising on flavour.  I was particularly keen to try the Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Chilli & Ginger. I adapted the recipe a bit, the original recipe can be found here and also in her book Home Cooking Made Easy.  This is my variation of it:

Ingredients

1 Butternut Squash
2 Cloves of garlic
Olive oil
1 red chilli
A few strands of Very Lazy Ginger (adapt amount according to your own taste)
900ml of vegetable stock (made with a stock cube)
Sea Salt

Method
1. Slice a butternut squash length ways and scoop out the seeds.

2. Place the squash halves on a baking tray and make criss-cross slices in the flesh (make sure your criss-cross slices are fairly deep. I didn't make mine deep enough & it didn't cook as quickly as it should have).

3. Drizzle both halves with olive oil & season with salt.

4. Place a clove of garlic (unpeeled) in each hollow.

5. Cook the butternut squash at 190 degrees for around 30 minutes.

6. While the butternut squash is roasting, heat some olive oil in your soup pan, chop an onion and lightly fry it on low heat for about 10-15 mins until soft but not brown.

7.  After 30 minutes, take your butternut squash out of the oven and scoop out the flesh (I used a dessert spoon for this part).  Place the flesh into the pan with the onion. Peel the garlic cloves and add them to the pan also.

8.  De-seed and finely chop the chilli and add this to the pan along with the ginger. 

9.  Add the vegetable stock and stir thoroughly before pouring into a blender and whizzing until smooth. 

10.  I poured the mixture back into the soup pan and let it simmer for a couple of minutes before serving. 

If you are particularly concerned about the fat content of the olive oil you could use fry light spray instead.  The original recipe also recommends frying the onions in butter as well as olive oil and using a swirl of coconut milk as a garnish.  I chose to omit these to reduce fat but each to their own. 

This soup is really warming, making it perfect for Autumn/Winter.  Make & enjoy!