Butternut squash isn’t something that I’ve cooked with a lot before, but recently I’ve realised how delicious it is and I seem to keep choosing it! Here’s a delicious recipe by Nigel Slater, which I saw on TV last week on his programme Nigel Slater’s Dish of the Day. It was first broadcast on 23rd November 2012, but you can watch it on the BBC website. The recipe isn’t written out but I’ve transcribed it – on the clip it shows you how to make some crisps out of the butternut squash peelings, but I’ve not included them here. I also had a sweet potato in the fridge and decided to throw that in for good measure, but that isn’t part of the original recipe.

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash
1 brown onion
Olive oil
Hot smoked paprika
1 vegetable stock cube, made to packet instructions
1 sweet potato (optional!)

Method

1. Peel and chop the squash (and sweet potato) and the onion, and brown in a pan with some olive oil.

2. Add the paprika and stir well. Pour over the stock, season and cover the pan with a lid. Leave to simmer until the squash is tender.

3. When cooked, blend thoroughly and add boiling water to adjust the consistency to your liking. Enjoy with some crusty bread – which tastes even better if you’ve made your own (click here for my bread recipe).

This soup freezes really well – you’ll need to add a bit more water to adjust the consistency. We also added some bacon when cooking a frozen batch and that tastes fantastic too!