More scrumptious eating for autumn

The tale of the orange squash: that is the orange flesh of a squash (or gourd) not the watered down fruity drink.

Although the outer skin was as tough as a leather rugby ball and the colour of khaki the inside was a fantastic tangerine and the squash made a superb soup. An unprepossessing outer shell hid a lovely rich flesh.

The soup recipe I chose to use with the squash was

Squash, carrot and ginger soup 

• Approximately 1.5kg/3lb 6 oz peeled and deseeded squash 3cm/1 in cubes 
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 2 medium carrots - chopped
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into cubes
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp clear honey (optional)
• 5cm/2in piece fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1.5 litres/2½ pints vegetable stock
•  freshly ground black pepper

The squash I was given yielded a little over 1.5 kg. You can either adjust the rest of the ingredients to suit or just enjoy a thicker soup. I don’t use honey or salt, by choice. If you read my previous post you’ll realise that cutting into the flesh of a squash is tough indeed. However place it in the bottom of an oven while cooking something else - for an hour - and the flesh yields to a sharp knife more easily. When the squash has been de-seeded  cut the flesh into chunks or 1 inch cubes.

Have a large re-useable plastic bag ready for tossing the vegetables in the olive oil. The method is very straightforward: 

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
2. Tip the prepared, cubed squash into a large, resealable freezer bag with the onion, carrots and red pepper. Add half the oil and pepper and toss everything together until the vegetables are evenly coated. Tip into a large roasting tin and spread out to form a single layer.
3. Roast in the oven for 40–45 minutes, or until tender and tinged brown. Drizzle over the honey, if using, 5 minutes before the end of cooking.
4. Place a large, deep-sided saucepan over a medium heat, add the remaining oil and, when it is hot, add the ginger and fry it for a minute. Pour in the stock and bring the whole to the boil. Remove the vegetables from the roasting tin then stir them into ginger and stock mix and add pepper for seasoning. Bring the whole to the boil, simmer gently for a few minutes. 
5. Remove the saucepan from the heat and, using a food processor blend the mixture until smooth. Return to the heat to warm through and serve ( or cool down and freeze).

The carrots, pepper and orange flesh make this soup look bright, warm and nourishing. The added ginger gives it an extra zest. 

Enjoy!