Cumin Butternut Squash Soup – A Recipe

Apparently the weather has been a little iffy this week. There has been some snow and in turn some ice. Arctic proportions of snow and wind in the North. In London, it has been cold and it has been a bit snowy, but we have all been getting to work and really don’t have anything to complain about.

Sunday night is usually a good standard warming meal and a dvd. Thai take-away if I can’t be arsed to cook. A thai soupy broth or some other altogether warming bowl of liquid, if I can.

Last night after messing around with a Croque Monsieur (which, for all those interested, actually was quite good*.){*n.b this in no way means that I advocate the use of irregular ingredients for a Croque} I decided that some soup was needed.

Soup is such a personal thing. For a cold and wintry evening I prefer a blended velvety soup over a chunky broth. Butternut squash has to be the ultimate fruit to blend, the thick and firm flesh when raw just falls apart when cooked and when blended with a few spices and some stock it produces a wondrous silky but meaty soup.

The cumin adds a great bit of spice, it does not overpower the squash and transforms the sweet orange flesh into something altogether more smoky. Perfect for a wintry evening.

Cumin Butternut Squash Soup

600g Butternut Squash

900ml Light Vegetable Stock

1 Medium Onion

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

1 clove of garlic

1/2 tsp salt

Few Drops of Chilli Oil (optional)

Method

Peel and chop the squash into 1-2 inch square chunks.

Toss in a table spoon of olive oil, and with the unpeeled garlic clove roast on a tray in an oven for 30 minutes at 190c.

Roughly chop the onion and soften in a saucepan with some olive oil. When translucent add the cumin seeds and cook for a few more minutes, you will smell the cumin coming out of the pan.

Remove the squash and peel the garlic clove. Add to the pand with the stock and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 15 minutes with the salt and then blend till smooth.

Serve with the chilli oil and some crusty toast. ( or a Croque Monsieur)

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup – Gale Force 1 – A Recipe

I love Jerusalem Artichokes.

Their knobbly shape and nutty, earthiness makes me feel as if I personally dug the little blighters up. If Jerusalem Artichokes were to appear on an episode of  ‘QI’ @stephenfry would most certainly sound the claxon and flash the big black screen at the mention of ‘wind’ – for some it builds up over night and gently releases while sleeping, for others it begins straight away and expels itself over a period. I have never seemed to find it troublesome, what I mean by that is, no-one seems to mention anything.

I am always unsure whther I should mention the possible side effects when serving to friends. A friend of mines mother always warns guests if they are unaware of the effects, she always does this during or after the course containing the offending tubers.

They have nothing to do with artichokes by the way, they are in fact a relation of a Sunflower, which is why those in the know over the pond call them Sunchokes. Unlike other tuber cousins (potatoes!) the carb in them is actually Inulin (not insulin) and that breaks down into fructose in the digestive tract, which makes these little beauties useful for diabetics.

I like them, roasted, sauteed, grated raw. My favourite way to eat them is soup. This is my recipe that has been honed over the years.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
500g Jerusalem artichoke, peeled and cut roughly (keep in acidulated water to stop discolouration)

700ml Light Chicken or Vegetable Stock

1 small red onion

1 shallot

1/2 leek

1 clove garlic

50g butter

1/2 cup full fat milk

4 tbs Marsala or other sweet/fortified wine

5 peppercorns

1/2 tsp salt

Method

Chop the onion, leek and shallot. Soften in the butter. Add garlic and soften. Do not brown them.

Add the artichokes, and all the other ingredients (except the milk and marsala), bring to the boil and simmer for 35mins.

Add the Milk and Marsala and bring back to the boil and simmer for another 10 mins.

Blend. You should have a thick soup the consistency of single cream with lots of black flecks of pepper. check the seasoning and adjust as you see fit.

I always top off with garlic poilane croutons and extra pepper.