Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup

Fall is the season of pumpkins and squashes, and the variety is immense. You can eat them sweet or sour, fried, roasted, filled, grated, wrapped in puff pastry or pureed. I love them as a cream soup and wanted to share with you yet another recipe. I really like piquant and nippy things so I used spicy olive oil. If you don’t have any, you can add hot Cayenne chilli pepper or chilli powder.

Ingredients for 4 portions:

700 g butternut squash
300 g carrots
125 ml single cream
100 g chestnuts (ready to use, roasted or boiled)
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. mustard
1 tsp. salt

Preparation:

Peel and dice the butternut squash, carrots and onion.
In a large saucepan, heat up the olive oil and cook the squash, carrots and onion over medium heat.
Stir in the mustard and salt. Add in 1 litre of water and bring to boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer for about 25-30 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender.
Stir in the single cream and puree with a hand blender.
Crumble the chestnuts and add them to the soup before serving.

Tip: You can use the crumbled chestnuts as a decoration, however they are very pale and it’s hard to distinguish them on top of the bright orange colour. This is why I’m using balsamic glaze and pumpkin seeds to decorate for the final finish.