Roast Butternut Squash, Leek, Sage Soup

This is a favourite go-to for me when the months get a bit colder.  I love the silky texture that you get from squash and of course there is so much flavour when you roast it.  It’s a pretty versatile vegetable and also goes well with coconut cream and cashew nut butter but here I wanted to keep it simple and cheap.  You could add a dollop of pesto on top for an added bonus.

DF/GF/V

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

For the roast squash and leeks

770g peeled chopped squash (you can find quite a lot of prepped which makes this very easy)

6 tbsp olive oil

3 leeks, roughly sliced

large bunch of sage, roughly chopped with some of the stalks

sea salt and black pepper

The base

2 celery sticks, diced

5 garlic cloves, diced

100g cherry tomatoes, halved

100ml white wine

750ml hot vegetable stock

1 tsp turmeric powder

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and line two baking trays with baking paper.  Add the chopped squash into one and the chopped leek into the other tray.  Season both trays with the olive oil, salt and pepper and place into the oven for 20 minutes for the leeks/35 minutes for the squash.  Put to one side when roasted.

While the vegetables are roasting you can start on the soup base.  Set a large saucepan to a medium to high heat and add 2 tbsp olive oil followed by the chopped celery to soften.   Let this fry for about 5 minutes before adding in the cherry tomatoes for two minutes and then add the diced garlic.  Fry for another 1 minute and then add the white wine simmering for 2 minutes.  Next add the roasted vegetables leaving a little of the leeks to add for garnish.  Pour in the hot vegetable stock and mix everything together for a minute.  Use a stick blender to pulse blend a little of the soup but leave about half not blended.  Stir in the turmeric powder and taste to check the seasoning adding in salt and pepper.  Serve hot with the roasted leeks on top!  This soup will freeze well and keeps in the fridge for about 3 days.