Yesterday was a day of unwinding and not doing too much as well as revisting an old recipe from six or seven years ago when I first became interested in cookery. I had about twelve ounces of butternut squash in cubes going spare as well as a large white onion, a clove of garlic, a hint of white pepper and a couple of teaspoons of powdered ginger.
I sliced up the white onion finely and the garlic clove and fried them in a saucepan with the lid on for about fifteen minutes. I added the ginger and the white pepper while they were frying. I stirred the ingredients periodically to ensure they did not stick to the bottom of the pan.
After the fifteen minutes was up and I was sure the onions, especially, were suitably softened I added the cubed butternut squash and fried it with the other ingredients for another ten minutes. I then added half a pint of chicken stock and simmered the mixture for around twenty-five minutes.
The soundtrack to the simmering of the soup mixture was Fairport Convention's 1978 effort Tippler's Tales a rustic folk record who's songs are all themed around drinking. The album was their last before their temporary disbanding.
After the twenty-five minutes were up I blended the soup, which transformed it into a bright orange mixture that glowed in the sun coming into my conservatory when I served it in a bowl topped with some fresh chives from my garden.
The soup was perfect for the unseasonable chill in my part of the world and the chives added a freshness to the always flawless taste of butternut squash.
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| Bright and bubbling with extra chives |
