Roasted Squash Soup

One night last week I was mindlessly watching Instagram Stories when I saw someone had made a soup with their leftover squash from Halloween. They didn't share the full recipe, but just listed the ingredients - all of which I had in the house. I jumped to my feet and headed to the kitchen to make up a batch for lunch the following day... It was 8.30pm, call me mad, but I was home alone with nothing to do. I love cooking and preparing meals ahead of time. So there I was, at 8.30pm on a week night, roasting squash and make a big batch of soup.

Don't feel too bad for me though, as this recipe really couldn't be easier. In fact, the hardest part was chopping the squash. Did you know that cutting squash (particularly, butternut squash) is one of the most common injuries to hands. True story! I know this, because a few years ago my partner cut his hand open whilst trying to slice into an avocado, and the nurse told us that avocado and butternut squash are the most common culprits.

Anyway, enough of that gorey story. It's not Halloween anymore afterall!

Recipe (serves 4):

• 500g squash (can be any you have in), chopped into 2cm cubes
• 1 sweet potato, chopped into 2cm cubes
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Olive oil
• 1 leek, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped into round discs and then each disc quartered
• 750ml vegetable stock

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Add your squash and sweet potato to a roasting dish with a drizzle of oil and all of the spices. Mix well to coat the squash and potato thoroughly. Cook for 20 minutes.
2. After 10 minutes of cooking, add another drizzle of oil to a deep pan over a medium heat. Add the leek, garlic, chilli and carrot and cook (stirring regularly) for 5 minutes.
3. Add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add the roasted squash and sweet potato (reserving some cubes for later) and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
5. Once cooked, turn the heat off and use a hand blender to blitz to your desired consistency.
6. Serve with the remaining squash and potato cubes and a good grind of black pepper.