Roasted Butternut Squash and Garlic Soup with Garlic Butter Crumpets

Makes approximately 3L

As the weather turns, and the nights draw in, what better comfort than soup. This bowl of sunshine will warm you up and it makes a nice vat of it so you can feed a crowd, or portion it up for the freezer for another day.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash (weighing approximately 1kg), peeled, deseeded and cut into 1 inch chunks

500g (approx3 medium sweet potatoes) peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks

1 white onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 head of garlic, wrapped in foil

Vegetable oil

1.5L Vegetable stock (vegan/gluten-free if required)

Salt and pepper 

To serve:

Crumpets (vegan/gluten-free if required)

Butter (vegan if required)

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180c (fan) and get a large baking tray. Drizzle with a little vegetable oil and toss the squash, onion and sweet potato around, grind some salt and pepper over the top. Make a small hole in the vegetables in the centre of the tray and pop the foil wrapped garlic bulb in there. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes.

Step 2: Towards the end of the 40 minutes, put 1.5L of vegetable stock in a large sauce pan, bring to a simmer. Once the vegetables are out of the oven, add them to the pan along with 5 cloves of the garlic (skin removed) and take off the heat. Use an immersion blender to blend to a smooth consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Step 3: Toast crumpets to serve, and then take a clove of the roasted garlic and smash it together with a little butter (one clove should be enough for four crumpets). Spread over the hot toasted crumpets and serve immediately with the soup.

Any left over roasted garlic can be stored in the fridge for a few days and added to sauces or pasta.