Winter Warmer Soup

This is my girlfriends favourite soup at the moment, we cook it weekly and its so easy!

Don't be put off by the amount of butter needed, you can always reduce it, but if you fancy a real treat and a richer fuller soup the I would recommend using the full amount and full fat milk!!

You will need:
1 Butternut squash
200g Butter
3 Onions peeled and finely sliced
400g Milk
600g Water
1 Red pepper, de-seeded roasted, peeled and diced into 1cm squares
Salt
Creme Fraiche

Pre heat the oven to 180degrees.
Peel the squash and de-seed. Finely slice 1/2 with a mandolin if accessible if not a knife will work just fine. Dice the other half and season with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil and roast for approx. 30mins or until soft.

Melt the butter on a low heat and add the onions and the sliced squash and sweat for about 10mins until the onions are translucent, try not to colour them.

Then add the milk and 600g tap water and the roasted pimpkin and simmer for 10mins until the sliced squash is completely cooked. Season to taste.

Blitz the soup until very smooth and pass through a chinois or fine sieve.

Serve the soup in wam bowls with a dollop of creme fraiche and the roasted pepper ontop with some cracked black pepper ontop to add a nice speckled effect.

This soup is perfect for lunch or dinner and can be kept in the fridge for upto 3days after making so if you make too much you can always use it again another day!

Butternut is so diverse and this recipe is such a simple one but the cooking of the squash two ways layers the flavours and if seasoned correctly will allow you to taste both the fresh and roasted squash in every spoonful.

I f you want to try changing the recipe you can always add some diced chilli to the onions at the beginning and sprinkle some brunoise chilli ontop instead of the pepper.

Or if your feeling really adventurous you could garnish the soup with some nut brown butter and pine nuts and some golden brown crutons as we do at work.

The recipe works equally well with pumpkin if you can't get hold of any squash.