Roasted butternut squash soup

 🥣✨ What you’ll need:

🎃 Butternut squash
🧅 Red onion & bell peppers
🧄 Garlic & ginger
🍅 Tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
🥥 Coconut milk + veggie broth
🌿 Thyme, rosemary, paprika, cumin, black pepper & chilli oil

Roast everything until golden and soft, 

blend with broth and coconut milk for a silky, cosy soup. 

Garnish with fresh cilantro and a drizzle of coconut milk — pure comfort in a bowl.

Tips for the Best:

• Roast the vegetables until lightly browned for a deeper flavour.
• Use full-fat coconut milk for the creamiest texture.
• Adjust the consistency with more broth if you prefer it thinner.
• Add a drizzle of chilli oil or a pinch of cayenne for gentle heat.

 

 

Butternut Squash Soup

Preheat the Oven: 

Set your oven to 390°F (200°C).

Prepare the Vegetables: 

You can either peel and chop the butternut squash, or, simply cut the squash in half for roasting. 

Note: 

Halving the squash will require a longer roasting time, while chopping the vegetables smaller will speed up the cooking process.

Season the Vegetables: 

Add the seasonings (pepper, cumin, paprika, thyme, rosemary, and chilli flakes) to the vegetables. 

Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat evenly. 

If halving the squash, drizzle olive oil on the exposed flesh. 

Cover the dish with aluminium foil.

Roasting: 

Roast for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the vegetables are golden and soft inside. If you've chopped the vegetables smaller, the roasting time can be reduced. If you've halved the butternut squash, expect a longer roasting time. 

For the last 10 minutes, remove the aluminium foil to allow the vegetables to caramelise slightly.

Blending: 

Once roasted, scoop out the flesh of the butternut squash (if halved) and transfer all the vegetables to a blender. 

Add the vegetable broth and ginger (if using), and blend until smooth and creamy.

Cooking the Soup: 

Pour the blended mixture into a pot and place it on medium heat. 

Stir in the coconut milk and cook for about 2 minutes, allowing everything to warm through.

Final Touch: 

Adjust the seasonings to your taste. 

Garnish with fresh cilantro, a drizzle of coconut milk, and a pinch of chilli flakes or some chilli oil if desired.

Easy Cold Cucumber Soup

 

• 2 cucumbers
• ▢1 green apple
• ▢2 stalks celery
• ▢1 clove garlic
• ▢1 cup Greek yogurt (150 g)
• ▢1 cup fresh herbs parsley, mint, dill
• ▢2 limes
• ▢2 tbsp olive oil
• ▢Sea salt
• ▢Black pepper
• Slice the cucumbers, celery, and green apple
• Add Greek yogurt, herbs and the balance of ingredients. 
• Use a food processor or blender and blend everything until you have a smooth soup.
• If the soup looks too thick, add a little water to thin it out.
• Serve this soup straight away at room temperature. 
• If you prefer a chilled soup then keep it in the fridge for around two hours prior to serving it.
• Or store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
• Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle over some fresh chopped herbs.
• 
  
• https://lacuisinedegeraldine.fr/en/cold-cucumber-soup#recipe-video

Spicy Chickpea and Bulgur Soup

Adapted slighty from Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi.

A few notes - scale back the harissa a bit if you are sensitive to heat (or if your harissa is on the spicy side). Yotam wrote this recipe using bulgur (as you see it below), but because I had cooked farro on hand, I took the liberty of swapping that in, in place of the bulgur. I imagine brown rice could be a welcome substitute too.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small onions, cut into 3/8-inch / 1-cm dice
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 3/8-inch / 1-cm dice
4 celery stalks, cut into 3/8-inch / 1-cm dice
2 tablespoons harissa paste
1 teaspoon freshly ground cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoon whole caraway seeds
2 1/2 cups / 500 g drained cooked chickpeas (canned are fine)
4-5 cups / 1 liter+ water
3/4 cup / 100 g coarse bulgur wheat
3 teaspoons fine grain salt, or to taste
black pepper, to taste

Creamed feta paste

3 1/2 oz / 100 g feta, broken into large chunks
1/4 cup / 60 g crème fraîche
1 cup / 15 g coriander leaves, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup / 15 g mint leaves
1/8 teaspoon fine grain salt

to serve: mint, coriander, and/or celery leaves

Put the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. 

Add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time, until translucent. 

Add the garlic, carrots, and celery and continue cooking for another 8 minutes. 

Add the harissa, cumin, coriander, and caraway seeds and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring well. 

Gently mix the chickpeas into the vegetable mixture--you don't want them to break down--along with most of the salt and plenty of black pepper. 

Add most of the water and bring to a boil. 

Turn down the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse the bulgur, put in a small saucepan, and cover generously with cold water. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from the heat. Drain, refresh under cold water, drain again and set aside.

To make the feta paste, 

put the feta, crème fraîche, coriander, mint, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in the bowl of a small food processor and blitz for a couple of minutes, until a smooth, creamy paste forms. Keep in the fr

idge until needed.

Before serving, add the cooked bulgur to the soup and bring to a gentle simmer. 

Divide the soup among bowls, add a spoonful of feta paste to each bowl, top with some herbs, and serve at once.