Spicy Roasted Butternut Soup & Homemade Wheaten Bread Recipe

This soup screams autumn to me. It's just so yummy and warming and comforting, like it's giving your tummy a hug :) My family aren't really that keen on things like butternut squash or sweet potato and I don't know why, I love them, but I think I've brought them round with this recipe! This recipe is from the Women's Institute Soups for All Seasons cookbook & the recipe for the bread is one I was given in school

Ingredients for the soup:

1 large butternut squash
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 onions, chopped
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
dash red chilli in sunflower oil
600ml (1 pint) vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
toasted pumpkin seeds to garnish

Method

1 Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6/200°C/400°F
2 Thickly peel the butternut squash. Scoop out the seeds and chop the flesh into chunks. Place in a large roasting tin. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season. Roast for 30 minutes, or until tender.

3 Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large lidded saucepan. Add the onions, ginger and chilli. Cover and sweat for 10mins, until softened. (At this point I made the wheaten).

4 Add the roasted squash to the pan with the stock and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

5 Cool slightly, remove the bay leaf and purée in a liquidiser until smooth.

6 Reheat until piping hot. Check seasoning.

7 Divide the soup between warmed serving bowls and sprinkle with the toasted pumpkin seeds.


Ingredients for the bread:

200g wholemeal flour
50g pinhead oatmeal (I prefer it without this)
75g porridge oats
50g margarine
25g castor sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
250mls buttermilk

Method

1 Rub margarine into flour.

2 Add oatmeal, oats sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix well.

3 Add buttermilk, to give a soft dough.

4 Pour into a 900g loaf tin; press some oat flakes on top.

5 Bake in a preheated oven, 200°C, gas 6 for 40 mins.

I didn't have any toasted pumpkin seeds :(