roasted butternut squash soup with ras al hanout

well the rain and the cold is here, so soup time it is!  Also am feeling poorly and should probably supplement my diet with more than whisky hot toddies and Dairy Milk.  I love soup - so little effort for so much comforting goodness.  Here's one of my favourites - a simple roasted butternut squash soup that you can spice up in any number of ways.  This is so easy to make and pep up with your favourite spices.  I will often make this with curry powder instead of the ras al hanout.  

A simple and comforting soup - perfect for these colder evenings. 

top tip:  No need to peel the squash before cooking, as it's much easier after you have roasted it.

recipe author:  chip butties and noodle soup  
serves:  3-4 

ingredients:

1 butternut squash
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp ras al hanout (optional or you can use your spice of choice
coriander or parsley - chopped
1.5 litre good chicken or vegetable stock
2-3 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. preheat the oven to 200c
2. chop the butternut squash and onion into chunky pieces and put in a roasting tin and before mixing with the ras al hanout, olive oil, garlic cloves and salt and pepper to taste.
3. roast for about 20-30 minutes until the veg is softened and slightly caramelised around the edges. 
4. carefully peel the squash (you can scoop it easily with a spoon from the skin), then add with them rest of the ingredients to a large saucepan.
5. Add the stock and simmer for about 5-10 minutes before removing from the heat and blending.
6. add your fresh herbs if using and serve immediately.  

I have also entered this recipe onto the Four Seasons Food blog challenge for January.  Hosted by delicieux and Eat Your Veg.  The theme this month is virtuous food :-)

roasted butternut squash, caramelized lemon and berbere houmous

I love houmous.  It's perfect for a quick snack on fresh bread, or as part of a larger mezze meal or BBQ accompaniment.  This recipe is packed with flavour and has influences from Africa with the traditional Ethiopian spice mix berbere.  This would be great with some warmed flat bread and smokey BBQ-ed lamb or falafel.  Check out this great falafel recipe on how to eat properly - by the brilliant Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi from their book Jerusalem

preparation time:  10 minutes
cooking time:  20-30 minutes

ingredients:

400g tin cooked chickpeas 

1 medium sized butternut squash

1 head of garlic

1 lemon (I used fresh lemon but a preserved one would be lovely too)

8 tbs olive oil

4 tbs plain yogurt 

2 tbs cumin seeds

1 heaped tsp berbere spice mix 

small bunch coriander/parsley chopped (keep a little back for garnishing)

salt and pepper to taste

method:

1. preheat the oven to 200C.
2. wash and roughly chop your squash - you can peel it if you want but I didn't bother as it softens down in the cooking process.  
3. add your squash to a roasting pan with the head of garlic.  Leave this unpeeled as it helps protect the garlic inside and produces wonderfully sweet and soft roasted cloves.  Add the cumin seeds and toss the squash and garlic in about 4tbs of your olive oil.  Roast for 20-30 minutes.  It's done when the squash is slightly caramelized and a knife pierces it easily.  
4. about 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time add the roughly chopped lemon - so it can soften and caramelize too.
5. when it's cooked and slightly cooled remove the skins from the garlic cloves then add to a food processor with the squash, lemon, chickpeas, yogurt, remaining olive oil, chopped herbs, berbere spice and salt and pepper.  You may need to whizz this up in a few lots depending on how big your processor is.  This would also work well with a hand held blender.  
6. serve garnished with more herbs and a drizzle of olive oil. Enjoy!

I am also entering this recipe onto: Four Seasons Food hosted by Delicieux and Chezfoti to go with their BBQ and BBQ sides theme.

July's entry hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage

frittata with wild garlic, roasted butternut squash and brie

My recipe for frittata with wild garlic, roasted butternut squash and brie. A beautifully simple and delicious supper or brunch dish.  Another recipe borne out of my current food obsession - wild garlic.  I love the stuff and I can use it even more now I found a huge patch of it in woodland close to where I live in the UK...happy days.  But the season is nearly over, it is short and sweet and I will have to get over the changing times....but not until I have made some jars of wild garlic pesto to see me through a few more weeks.

I added leftover roasted butternut squash to the frittata, but you could easily substitute for any other roasted vegetables of your choice.  Also many other cheeses would be great melted on top - it's just that I had some brie that I needed to use up.  I would also love this with some nice crumbly goats cheese or Stilton.  This can be served simply with some crusty bread or boiled new potatoes.  Let me know how you get on - I hope you enjoy :-) 

For more handy information and safety tips about foraging for wild garlic check out my previous posts for wild garlic with tofu, aubergine and oyster sauce and wild garlic minestrone soup.  I also found Galloway wild foods really useful with a wealth of information about foraging for wild garlic and other edibles.

serves 2-3
preparation time:  5 minutes
cooking time: 5-10 minutes
recipe author:  chip butties and noodle soup

ingredients:

3-4 eggs
1 cup/handful of chopped roasted butternut squash (or roast veg of choice)
1 large bunch wild garlic (washed in clean running water)
100g brie sliced (or cheese of choice)
2 tbs vegetable oil

instructions: 

• heat a frying pan with the vegetable oil, beat the eggs then add to the pan with the roasted butternut squash and half the wild garlic - stir around a few times to start the cooking then turn the heat down.
• add the sliced brie to the top of the frittata.  The frittata should cook in about 5 minutes - you can finish it off under the grill if you like to brown up the cheese.   
• garnish with the rest of the wild garlic and serve - simple!  

I am also entering this dish into the May herbs on Saturday challenge hosted by delicieux.  Organised by Karen at lavender and lovage. 

 

This recipe is also included in Nature's Lunchbox a food foraging challenge organized by Foodie Laura.  Check out the rules here if you would like to enter or look at other entrants.  Happy foraging :-)