Sweet and Spicy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

There is a perfect balance to be found here, with the sweetness of roasted butternut squash, sweet red peppers and mangoes followed by a spicy, savoury hit from chilli, cumin, paprika and chorizo. I used lentils mainly because I have a massive bag of them, but they are great at making something like soup more satisfying. This soup is so good, you wouldn’t be disappointed if you had a bowl with a toastie or a sandwich for your evening meal. And let’s face it, soup is near the top of the list of disappointing evening meals. This one is so versatile, I even had it with rice. It was brilliant with a cold beer.

hmm. looks proper unappetising.

Should serve 5/6 people

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

Olive oil

4/5 cloves garlic

1 onion

1 teaspoon chilli powder

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

2/3 inches of chorizo (ahem.)

½ cup red lentils

1 litre chicken stock

4 roasted sweet red peppers (the kind in a jar)

2/3 teaspoons (preferably spicy) mango chutney

Method:

1.       Peel and slice up the squash, removing the seeds, and put it on a baking tray with a coating of olive oil. Put it in the oven at high/full whack until it looks roasted looking. Half an hour maybe.

2.       Whilst the squash is roasting, peel and chop the onion and garlic and cook on a very gentle heat in a little oil in the bottom of your massive soup pot for about 5 minutes, lid on.

3.       Chop the chorizo and throw that in – cook for a few minutes so that the oil oozes out a bit

4.       Chuck in your spices, and cook them for a few minutes

5.       Add the lentils and chicken stock, and stir it about a bit. Bring to a simmer, put the lid on and cook until the lentils are tender. 15-20 minutes should do it.

6.       Stir in the peppers, mango chutney and your roasted squash leave on a gentle heat for another 5 minutes.

7.       Blend the lot. Ideally you want one of those handheld blender things.

Disclaimer: Timings and quantities may be seriously, properly wrong. Use your wits.