To celebrate the change of the seasons, the Senior Sous Chef at The Stables shares his favourite dish using the versatile, delicious and full of colour vegetable – butternut squash. Squashes are so seasonal in autumn; they taste amazing and are incredibly good value. You can swap the butternut squash for pumpkin by using the same recipe, but adding a teaspoon of mixed spice.
This is our family’s favourite soup at this time of year, and we also cook it in The Stables restaurant using our super-fresh home-grown squashes from the Walled Garden. Enjoy!
Laszlo Szabo, Senior Sous Chef at The Stables Restaurant
Ingredients
| 1kg butternut squash |
| 2 shallots |
| 35g ginger |
| 5 sage leafs |
| extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 litre vegetable stock |
| 100ml coconut milk and some for serving |
| 1 lime |
| 1 garlic clove |
| salt and pepper to taste |
Method
| 1. | Preheat the oven to 175c. |
| 2. | Deseed and roughly chop the squash, peel and slice the shallots and the garlic, then peel and finely grate the ginger. |
| 3. | Place the squash, shallots, garlic and the sage in a large mixing bowl with a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. |
| 4. | Mix it all together. |
| 5. | Line your baking tray with parchment paper and place the mixture on it. |
| 6. | Roast in the pre-heated oven for 20 mins until the squash starts to crisp up on the edges. |
| 7. | In a large cooking pan, add the coconut milk, vegetable stock, ginger and the baked squash mix. Bring it to the boil then let it simmer for 15 minutes. |
| 8. | Blitz it with a stick blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and squeeze in the lime juice. Finish with a splash of coconut milk and some olive oil. |
Tip: When you prep the squash, collect the seeds and toast them in a hot pan with a pinch of salt, without adding any oil. When the seeds are toasted you can use them on top of your soup to add texture.