Squash and Sweet Potato Soup... Adapted from Nigella

With so much snow and ice everywhere, I decided to walk rather than drive to Sainsbury's this morning with my Mum and puppy. While I was there, I got a butternut squash and some sweet potatoes to make a warming soup for the next couple of days before Christmas.

Riley, my pup, in the snow

I got the idea from watching one of Nigella's Christmas episodes which seems to be repeated again and again on the Good Food channel. Roasting the vegetables before turning them into soup is really delicious as they go much sweeter, especially the squash which isn't as good when it's boiled. She finishes hers off with buttermilk and blue cheese which I didn't fancy, but mine is just as delicious and of course much healthier. She also uses cinnamon, nutmeg and marsala wine in hers to make it more festive but I used spiced mine up with some cumin, mild chilli powder and some black pepper. I guess you can use this basic soup recipe with roasting the veg for any other vegetables that need using up and soup in this weather is ideal!
Ingredients - makes a big pot of soup -
About 4 small red onions, take the outer layer off and chop them in half
1 butternut squash, unpeeled, chop into about 1 inch cubes
500g sweet potatoes, unpeeled, chop into cubes
Garlic Oil to coat
A good shake of cumin 
and a good shake of chilli powder
Black pepper to season
1.5 litres of vegetable stock (I used 2 pots of vegetable stock reduction made up with water)


1.Put the veg into a roasting tin and coat with olive oil before sprinkling on the spices. 
2. Cook in a hot oven (about 180-200c) for about an hour (until all tender and just starting to blacken)
3. Then let them cool while making up the stock. Then put the vegetables in a big saucepan and add the stock a little at a time while whizzing up with a blender (I stupidly poured it all in at once and it could have done with being a tiny bit thicker).
4. Then either serve straight away or it will keep in the fridge for a while!
I'm going to serve mine with some brown bread, I might even make some if I'm feeling virtuous ;)