Roasted butternut squash soup with pickled carrots A winter warmer

TCarrots

HIS soup is a great winter warmer to get you through these cold, dark nights. Serve with warm crusty bread.

Ingredients: Serves 4+ Soup

2 x butternut squash – peeled and deseeded

1 x white onion – peeled and sliced 1 x garlic clove – peeled and sliced Vegetable stock/water approx. 1litre 50g unsalted butter

Salt

1 x carrot – peeled – cut into thin strips

125ml white wine vinegar 200ml water

100g sugar

Tarragon

Coriander seeds

Curry oil

100ml vegetable oil 2 tsp. curry powder

Method

First, peel, de-seed and slice the squash cutting into thin slices. In a heavy based pan, heat the butter and add the onions, cook these on a medium heat until soft with no colour.

Next add the squash, season it well with salt and cook on a moderate heat until the squash starts to break down.

In the meantime, have your stock heating. Add this to the soup – just enough to cover the squash.

Turn up the heat and cook fast until the squash is soft. Once soft and cooked down, transfer the soup to a blender and blitz.

If you find that you have too much liquid left remove some before blending. You can always add more back to the squash if needed. Pass the blended soup through a fine sieve and adjust the seasoning if necessary – cool until needed.

For the carrots, place all the ingredients except the carrots into a small pan and bring to the boil. Once boiled, remove from the heat and add the carrot strips. Allow to cool and keep in the pickle mixture until needed.

For the curry oil, bring both the ingredients up to a just-below boiling temperature on a low heat – then remove and allow to cool. Once cool, pass the oil through a fine cloth to remove any powder sediment. Store in a bottle or a container.

Gary Townsend is head chef at One Devonshire Gardens by Hotel du Vin, Glasgow. See www.hotelduvin.com or phone 0141 378 0385 to book. Twitter @Chefgtownsend

Instagram- @chef.g.townsend

PHOTOGRAPH: ALAN DONALDSON