Magic Squash

Magic in the way that one whole squash created two beautiful meals, a warm nurturing soup and soft and crispy and satisfying roasted with some super swede. Along with a little help from myself, and also the handy hints from the squashes natural roots..check out the little mystical fellow here..reminds me of a wondrous witchy woman on her broom..or a cheeky little grasshopper..spreading their vibes of love and joy!..:)

So with the help of my magical friend, I got set to work with our first creation..roasted veggys.

I halved the squashed (sorry little dude, but thy time has come, you're now ripe and ready to be devoured!) and scooped out the seeds, then halved again (carnage) and sliced into small slices and places on a baking tray (bye bye! x) I then remembered two huge chunks of swede I was given earlier that day from my lovely friend at New Roots (a beautiful volunteer run whole foods shop where I work one day a week) so I decided to chop one of them up and roast in with the squash..

I was going to throw in a couple of carrots too, but decided to save them for the soup.

I roasted the veg with some garlic and topped with olive oil and smoked paprika and sprinkled with some cumin seeds..

yum!

Then, we got set to work on the soup. And I have to say I was soooo pleased with how this turned out, soups aren't usually my staple dish, but this was, as my Nan would say..bloody gorgeous!

Ingredients

half a squash

half a swede

2 carrots

2 cloves garlic

2-3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp mango powder

sprinkle of dried coriander (I would have preferred fresh, but didn't have any to hand)

some fresh and ground turmeric

2 tbsp block coconut (the one you can get in a bar that looks like soap..I love snacking on this too!)

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp vegetable stock

2-3 pints of water

Fry the garlic and cumin seeds in the olive oil for a few minutes, pop in the veg and add the spices and fry for 5 to 10 minutes, this enhances all the lovely flavours. Then stir the vegetable stock with water and pour over the veg, stir, and bring to the boil, then let simmer for around twenty minutes until the veg has just started to tender (I like to keep my veg quite fresh and not over cook it).

With a hand blender, if you have one, blend up the soup for a few minutes, (I also like to keep some chunks of veg in the soup too..think it gives a nice texture with the smoothness, and I think it's a nice surprise when your eating it to find a chunky cube of swede or squash or carrot).

Then add the block coconut which will easily melt in with the soup and will give it a lovely creaminess.

Take off the heat and let the soup sit in the pan with the lid on for 10-15 minutes - to let the beautiful flavours mingle. Then serve and enjoy!

Autumn magic in a bowl :)