Monday 28 March 2011

Cream of butternut squash and chili soup

This weekend I made butternut squash soup with a spicy twist to it.  I've always enjoyed this soup because of its taste and the fact that it is a good hearty meal, but I thought it was about time it was spiced up a bit and made more interesting.  I've tried red peppers in the past, but soaking and pealing them was just far too faffy, carrots didn't make it interesting either and butternut squash on its own - unless you use a tonne of butter, sugar, salt or garlic - will not even at the best of times be as flavoursome as anticipated.
Ingredients:
x1 whole butternut squash
x2 medium spice chilies (or hot - depends on your palette)
x3 garlic cloves
x1 tsp of butter
x1 pinch of salt
x1 chicken stock cube
x4 tbsp of sour cream
Enough boiling water to cover the ingredients in the pan




.Method:
1.  Add a pinch of salt and the butter to a deep pan, along with the chilies and the garlic and fry on a very low heat.  To save on washing just use one deep pan, instead of a deep pan and a frying pan.
2.  Chop the squash into four sections and spoon out the seeds in the middle.
3. Turn the pan heat up to a medium heat.  Peal and chop the squash into small cubes and add them to the pan.
4.  Cover the pan with a lid and leave to simmer, occasionally stirring to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the pan for about 20 minutes.  This is just to soften the squash and allow it to absorb the chili and garlic flavours.
5.  Boil 1-2 litres of water (you don't know how much you're going to need at this point because it really depends on the size of the squash)
6.  Add your chicken stock cube to the pan and cover the ingredients with water, about 1cm coverage over the squash will do just fine.  Boil this for 20 minutes on a medium heat.
7.  You can use a food processor or a hand blender for this part where all you need to do is carefully pulse the mixture until it is completely smooth.  If you do use a hand blender please be careful for hot splatters of soup getting on your skin, also it is orange so please wear an apron and avoid wearing light coloured clothing.

8.  Add your sour cream and lightly pulse until creamy, then serve.


NB: Your soup has just come straight off the hob so please wait until your soup has cooled down before eating it!
ENJOY :)

8 comments:

Victoria said...

yummmmmm!! a little hit of chilie sounds wonderful! :)

Natasha cooks cakes and bakes said...

thank you very much Victoria. It completely changes the flavour of the soup. You should try it if you can, it is a lovely spring/summer soup :)
All the best, Natasha.

Unknown said...

I love soup recipes and this is one that my family will love! I just signed up to follow your blog and I am looking forward to seeing more of your creative recipes!

Have a great day!
Linda

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FoodPilgrims said...

Hey Natasha, forgot to follow your blog last time I visited but have rectified that mistake now!
My Mum adores butternut squash so I'll pass this recipe on to her for sure :)
Beth @ Baking and Brogues
xx

Natasha cooks cakes and bakes said...

Thanks for the comments guys! I hope if you make the soup you find it as delicious as I did! All the best, Natasha.

MissCakeBaker said...

I like the idea of the addition of chilli to the butternut squash.

Shadownlight said...

omgosh that sounds great, im actually really hungry!

Caroline Taylor said...

This looks so hearty and filling. I don't eat enough butternut squash and I love soup and it seems ridiculous I've never combined the two!