Rich Winter Butternut Squash Soup

Blitz your way into the hearts of your family during dinner time, with an extremely comforting hot bowl of steamy butternut squash soup.

Ingredients

1 ½ kg Butternut Squash

2 Large brown or red onions (finely chopped)

3 garlic cloves (crushed)

75g ginger

500 ml chicken stock

250 ml water

3 chillies (finely chopped) or small bell pepper (red) if chillies are to spicy for you

1 tablespoon melted butter

250 ml fresh pouring cream

Few sprigs of fresh herbs: parsley, mint or chives

1 lime

Method:

Peel and pip the butternuts
Cut the butternut into about 5cm square chunks
Peel and chop the onions finely
Crush the garlic through a garlic press (otherwise finely chopped)
Chop the chillies or red bell pepper finely
Peal the ginger and cut finely
Put the onions, garlic, ginger and chillies or peppers into the melted butter in a saucepan on a moderate heat.
Cook until the onions are soft and transparent
Add the lime juice and the chicken stock (keep the zest of the skin)
Stir until well mixed
Add the water and the cubes of butternut and let it simmer for about an hour, until the soup is thick and all the ingredients are well blended together
Liquidise with a food processor or blitzer
Dish up the soup, swirl a tablespoon of cream, chopped parsley, mint or chives and the zest of the lime skin for garnish