Spiced Roasted Butternut Squash & Garlic Soup
I love butternut squash. And with a chilly, rainy autumn definitely arrived here in the UK, a warming soup made from this naturally sweet member of the cucurbit family is a welcome sight on many restaurant menus or home dinner table.
But I find that many versions of this popular soup are just too sweet for my taste. If I make or order soup then I want it to be deeply savoury, not pudding-sweet.
So, as part of a ‘Harvest Home’ dinner I created a Spiced, Roasted Butternut Squash & Garlic Soup containing whole and freshly ground cumin, fennel and coriander seeds along with a hint of chilli flakes. I find these additions lift the whole soup.
You still get the sweet flavour you should expect from butternut squash, but it isn’t cloying or overwhelming.
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The skin of a butternut squash is pretty tough. I find that the easiest way to peel it, while keeping your hands out of the way of the knife, is to first cut it into two halves, across the equator so to speak. Then stand them upright on their ends, hold at the top, and bring your knife carefully downwards, slicing away strips of squash skin. Discard the seeds.
For this soup, chunks of squash are roasted in olive oil with whole spices. I make the cubes no bigger than about 2cm square. This means there’s more surface area to get nicely browned. And, as all cooks should know, browned = flavour.
More of the seed spices are dry roasted in a pan, ground and added to the soup’s base of finely chopped onion and celery, sautéed in olive oil in a saucepan on top of the stove while the squash is roasting in the oven.
To increase the flavour of the soup even more, I bake a whole head of garlic in foil. This makes it mild and delicious. When cool enough to handle it’s disassembled and the flesh squeezed out of its papery cocoon and into the soup base.
After both squash and garlic have been added to the celery and onion, stock is added, a lid put on and the whole lot simmered for 10-12 minutes to finish cooking the vegetables. Start with a relatively small amount of stock as you can always add more later if you want a thinner soup. For convenience, I use a vegetable bouillon powder at a rate of 2 teaspoons per half litre of boiling water.
All that’s left to do then is blend the soup to your desired consistency. You can strain it through a sieve if you want it super-smooth, but I prefer it just whizzed up with a stick blender. I usually add more stock, another 150 – 200 ml, to thin the soup, blend again and then check if it needs any further seasoning.
To add welcome texture to the soup, I like to top individual bowls with toasted pumpkin seeds and crisp, fried sage leaves:
- heat 2tb of pumpkin seeds in a non-stick pan for 3-5 minutes, stirring to make sure they don’t burn. Take from the pan and set aside.
- heat some olive oil in a small, deep pan. Throw in the sage leaves and sizzle quickly until crisp: about 30 – 45 seconds. Drain on kitchen towel, sprinkle with salt.
If not eaten straight away, this soup can happily be frozen, without the toppings, as one batch or in individual portions.
Have you made this soup? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
Spiced Roasted Butternut Squash & Garlic Soup
Naturally sweet butternut squash is lifted by roasted garlic, cumin, fennel & coriander seeds along with a hint of chilli in this warming soup.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
For the butternut squash
- 1 medium butternut squash peeled & chopped into 2cm cubes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
For the garlic
- 1 head garlic left whole
- 1 tsp olive oil
For the soup base
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 medium onions chopped finely
- 2 sticks celery chopped finely
- 700 ml vegetable stock
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 220C /200C Fan/ Gas 7
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Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium and put in HALF of the coriander, cumin & fennel seeds. Stir over the heat until the seeds start to brown and the aroma rises.
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In a pestle & mortar or spice grinder, grind the seeds & put to one side.
For the butternut squash
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Put the peeled & chopped butternut squash in a roasting tin in a single layer. Sprinkle over the WHOLE coriander, cumin & fennel seeds, along with 1/4 tsp of the chilli flakes, salt, pepper & 2 tb of olive oil.
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Using your hands, mix everything together so that the squash has a good coating of spices & oil. Put in the oven for approx 25 minutes, stirring & turning every 10 minutes to ensure the squash is browned without sticking or burning. When cooked, put to one side.
For the garlic
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Slice the top centimetre off the top of the head of garlic and discard. Put the base on a small square of baking foil.
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Season with salt & pepper & drizzle with 1 tsp of olive oil. Enclose the garlic in the foil then put in the oven for 25 minutes. Carefully open the foil to check if soft and lightly browned. If not, re-wrap and cook another 5 minutes. When done, set aside to cool.
For the soup base
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Heat 1 tb of olive oil in a large saucepan then add the chopped onions & celery. Season with salt & pepper.
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Cook over low-medium heat without browning too much for 20 minutes. Add the reserved GROUND spices and cook a further 2-3 minutes until aroma rises. Set aside.
To finish the soup
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Add the roasted squash minus any excess oil to the cooked celery and onions.
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Scrape out the cooked flesh from the head of garlic and add to the saucepan.
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Add 500ml of the vegetable stock, stir, put on a lid and bring to boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until all the veg are soft: approx 12 minutes.
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Take off the heat and blend the soup with a stick blender. Add more stock for a thinner soup, blend again then taste and add more seasoning if necessary.
Recipe Notes
To add welcome texture to the soup, top individual bowls with toasted pumpkin seeds and crisp, fried sage leaves:
- heat 2tb of pumpkin seeds in a non-stick pan for 3-5 minutes, stirring to make sure they don't burn. Take from the pan and set aside.
- heat some olive oil in a small, deep pan. Throw in the sage leaves and sizzle quickly until crisp: about 30 - 45 seconds. Drain on kitchen towel, sprinkle with salt.
- sprinkle the seeds and leaves over each bowl just before serving.