Squash, Apple and Ginger Soup – from The Parlour Cafe Cookbook

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 20g butter
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 5cm piece of ginger, finely grated
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded, and cut into 1cm dice
• 3 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 litres vegetable stock
• salt and freshly ground black pepper (pink peppercorns work particularly well)

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the onion and garlic, frying them until they are translucent.

Add the allspice and ginger and fry for another couple of minutes, then the squash and apple and cook for about 10 minutes or until the squash starts to caramelise at the edges.

Pour in the stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the squash is absolutely soft – 20 minutes should do it. Blitz with your hand blender until smooth, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Buy The Parlour Cafe Cookbook by Gillian Veal here.