Autumn soup...

I know Autumn has really arrived when I start to make soup! Nothing beats a warm steamy bowl of soup when the leaves are turning and a nip arrives in the air. Of course, Murphy's Law states that since I made a HUGE pot of it and have frozen it in those plastic takeaway boxes for work lunches, next week will be scorchio! Over the new few weeks I swear I will be a good girl and post here more often but for today, here is my recipe for Autumn Root Soup. It ends up being a lovely orange-y Autumn colour and it's the easiest soup in the world to make!

It's also really economical to make (did a massive shop at my local supermarket yesterday and these are the prices for the veg in the soup)

Squash: €1.50 (2 for €3 deal)
Carrots: €1.70 per kg so I'd say €0.70
Parsnip: €1.30 for 3
Red pepper: 65c
Red onion: 15c
Garlic: 7c


Total: 2.25 litres of soup for about €6.00 when you add in herbs and spices and electricity! There's 8 takeaway tubs full to the brim of soup gone into the freezer and I'll get a couple of bowls out of it too.

Autumn Root Soup

1 butternut squash, halved and deseesed
1 red pepper quartered and deseeded
3 carrots (I don't bother peeling carrots when I'm putting them into soup) cut into chunks
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
1 red onion, peeled and cut into chunks
3 cloves of garlic in their skins

Put everything into a large roasting tin and place in oven at 190-200 degrees celcius for about 40 minutes or until the squash is soft. Leave the red onion out until 20 minutes into cooking time ss it can burn otherwise.

When squash in soft take out vegetables except the squash and garlic and place in large pot with some olive or other oil.

Peel squash (skin should come away really easily), cut into chunks and add to pot.

Squeeze garlic flesh out of it's skin into pot.

Add teaspoon of English mustard powder, smoked paprika and a pinch of chilli powder. Add a spring of rosemary, a desssert spoon of thyme and 4-5 sage leaves. All these herbs and spices are optional and you can season it any way you prefer.

Add about 1.5 litres boiling water and bring vegetables to the boil for about 20 minutes. Blend vegetables with hand held blender and thin with milk or water. Season to taste.

This soup freezes really well and has a velvety sweet texture that everyone will love. For a special occasion, serve with a swirl of cream and some chopped chives!

The picture above is my bowl of soup waiting to be eaten... yum!