A soup for October – Butternut squash & Lentil

This is so good.

Great for using up autumn harvesting. Beautiful colour, texture. Glossy.

Ingredients are: two thirds of a butternut squash, peeled and chopped, a good amount of red lentils, one yellow pepper, chopped, one stalk of celery, one onion, one clove of garlic – all chopped. Tomatoes – I put in half a tin of Italian and some cherry tomatoes – yes, also chopped.

Olive oil, ground black pepper, paprika, cumin and veggie stock. Water too.

Go through the necessary process, allow to simmer til the squash is soft then pop it all in a blender and whizz.

Serve with a dollop of yoghurt and chilli flakes, toasted sourdough on the side. Enjoy!

Celeriac Soup for New Year’s Eve

I always seem to forget the humble and ugly celeriac when shopping for fruit and veg. But this week I picked one up and decided a nice creamy soup would be just right for NYE.

Ingredients are:

Olive oil

A brown onion and two garlic cloves, chopped.

One whole celeriac peeled and chopped.

One good-sized potato, peeled and chopped.

Vegeta, thyme, a bay leaf, water, white pepper.

Saute the onion and garlic til soft, in olive oil. Then add other ingredients. Bring to boil and simmer til vegetables are soft.

Put through a blender, adding some cream (whatever kind suits you).

Serve up in bowls, topping with toasted almond slithers, a drizzle of cream, and sesame seed oil.

I found this soup on the BBC Good Food website under vegan recipes. My version is a little different. It’s very tasty and moreish.

Wising you a good and safe evening and all the best for 2022!

Lentil and brassica soup

You will need

A pan and a spoon, something to chop with etc.

This is a simple soup which requires time to simmer so the lentils can soften. Thereafter, either whizz up or serve as is.

A small brown onion, one stick of celery, one carrot, all chopped up and sauted in the pan with olive oil til onion is softened and shiny. This is the soffrito. In French it’s done with buttter and is called mirepoix. But you know that!

Add Swiss bouillon or Vegeta, white pepper, one bay leaf, some dried thyme.

Then the lentils – a mix of green and brown, chopped broccoli.

Tomato puree and water. Stir. Allow to come to boil them simmer for around 45 mins.

Towards the end, add some chopped fresh savoy cabbage and baby spinach leaves.

Serve as is or with parmesan. Wholemeal bread to go with.

And there you have an earthy, simple yet tasty soup for a winter’s day.

It’s Christmas Day. We’re awaiting promised snow.

Prijatno and Sretan Božić!

Lentil and brassica soup