Spicy autumn soup recipe

Root vegetables and cucurbits rule in Autumn, which is partly why it’s one of my most favourite times of the year. Here’s a hearty, warming spicy autumnal soup recipe for these chilly September days and nights.

Spicy autumn soup recipe with butternut squash, sweet potato and carrot

SPICY AUTUMN SOUP RECIPE (VEGETARIAN AND VEGAN)

Ingredients

Light olive oil blend or rapeseed oil
1 x medium butternut squash
1 x medium-large sweet potato
3 x medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 x floury potato (Picasso/Maris Piper/Desiree etc)
2 x large onions (red or white), peeled and diced
Salt & cracked black pepper
Generous heap of curry powder (or garam masala and cumin) plus sprinkle of ground cayenne pepper
Vegetable stock (Marigold)

Method

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 6/400F/200C
2. Chop the butternut squash into thick wedges, chop the carrots and sweet potato into chunks, sprinkle with salt and cracked black pepper if desired and roast in the oven in the oil until soft and slightly charred on the edges – this should take about half an hour.
3. Meanwhile, boil the potato until fluffy
4. When the roasted veggies are almost done, start softening the onions in a pan.
5. Once the veggies have roasted, if you’ve left the skin on the squash, allow to cool and scoop away the squash flesh from the skin. Then add into the saucepan with all roasted veggies and potato.
6. Add a generous splash of vegetable stock (make sure the water is boiling) to cover the vegetables with about half an inch over the top. Add the curry powder, cumin or ground cayenne pepper. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5-8 minutes to reduce the water content down.
7.Take off the heat and blend with a hand blender. If too thick, add some more vegetable stock and blend again.

Serve with thick, crusty bread, grab yourself a book or find a film, and enjoy!

Back to School with Organic September

Organic September

How can it be September already? This year has gone quicker than any other and already I can feel Autumn creeping in with the dewy mornings, the dawn and dusk twinkling bird song and the flutter of leaves as they start to fall from the trees. I don’t mind one bit, as I find late summer and the heat tiring, and the freshness of Autumn is invigorating… and boy, do I need some of that right now.

September has a distinctly back to school feel, and I often use this month to get myself ‘squared up’ – back on track ahead of the long, dark nights of winter. My life seems to go from a comfy plateau of bumbling along in my own bubble, to a whirlwind of work, and I often lose myself and any kind of rhythm in my life. The first thing to go is planned meals, and by ‘planned’ I mean home-cooked, healthy and hearty meals. I start eating oven food and the take-away bills add up, along with my fat, sugar and calorie counts. It’s not the way I want or like to live but it’s so easy to slip into it.

 

So I’m pre-empting the chaos, and have set myself up with a scribbled meal planner for the week. But one thing I realised is that I eat pretty much the same five things on rotation. Bean-based thing with rice/quinoa/bulgar wheat and green veggies, veg and gravy with mash/roasties, chilli, curry, lentil bake, homemade pizza (vegan, yes it’s delicious!) as a treat. I’ve become stuck in a rut. As a vegan, there’s a whole world of food out there for me to explore but I’ve lost my mojo in the kitchen a bit. I think at least once a week I need to have a ‘New Dish Day’… a day where I try to cook something interesting, tasty and out of my comfort zone (difficult, since I am a bit addicted to spice and curry). Monday seems to be the best day for this as it gives me a chance to do some research over the weekend when it’s quieter and calmer, and I can also use the weekend to get in any extra ingredients I might need.

growing organic

It’s also Organic September, so I’ll be making a point of opting for organic ingredients. I already grow a little of my own food organically, but we still buy in a lot. It seems crazy though that organic, as one of the most natural and sustainable ways to grow and farm food, should require certification. Surely, it should be the other way round? These days cost and profit seems to supersede everything, including common sense, but I’m sure that if we champion and encourage people to buy organic, it will start to be seen as the norm and demand will increase. That can bring down cost and the supermarkets should reconsider their position on adding a premium for more naturally grown food, somehow making out it’s a luxury. Organic food should be a staple in every house. But how can we make that happen?