Chef Thomas
A Proper Chicken Broth
Sunday's roast chicken, simmered slowly on Monday with carrots, celery, leeks, and thyme into a bowl of clear, golden broth that smells like the kitchen is paying attention.
Culinary Explorer
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Butternut Squash Soup
Created by Chef Thomas
Squash roasted until its edges catch and caramelise, then blended into a deep-orange soup that tastes the way an autumn evening feels when the clocks have gone back and the lamps are on early.
Soups & Stews
British
Weeknight
Comfort Food
15 min
Active Time
50 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield4 servings
There's a Saturday in October, every year, when the squash arrive at the market in force. Great heavy butternuts, the colour of old terracotta, stacked in crates that smell of cold soil and dry leaves. I buy one without thinking. It sits on the counter for a day or two, solid and patient, until an evening comes along that's cold enough to deserve it.
Butternut squash soup is a newcomer to the British kitchen, if you think about it. Our grandmothers wouldn't have recognised a butternut. But it's settled in now, and rightly so. The flesh roasts into something almost impossibly sweet, with caramelised edges that taste of toffee and bonfire smoke, and when you blend it with good stock and a little butter, it becomes a soup so smooth and deep-coloured it looks like something poured from a jug.
I roast the squash rather than boiling it. The oven does the hard work: concentrating the sugars, browning the edges, turning something raw and starchy into something rich and giving. The onion and garlic go in alongside, softening and sweetening in the same heat. By the time everything reaches the pan, the flavour is already built. The stock and the blender just bring it together.
I wrote it down in the notebook last year: squash, roasted. Cumin. Orange as anything. Tuesday, rain. That's all it needed.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
butternut squash
Quantity
1 large (about 1.2kg)
halved lengthways, seeds scooped out
onion
Quantity
1 medium
peeled and quartered
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves
unpeeled
olive oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
unsalted butter
Quantity
30g
vegetable or chicken stock
Quantity
750ml
ground cumin
Quantity
1 teaspoon
nutmeg
Quantity
pinch
freshly grated
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
double cream (optional)
Quantity
a generous swirl
crusty bread
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| butternut squashhalved lengthways, seeds scooped out | 1 large (about 1.2kg) |
| onionpeeled and quartered | 1 medium |
| garlicunpeeled | 3 cloves |
| olive oil | 2 tablespoons |
| unsalted butter | 30g |
| vegetable or chicken stock | 750ml |
| ground cumin | 1 teaspoon |
| nutmegfreshly grated | pinch |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| black pepper | to taste |
| double cream (optional) | a generous swirl |
| crusty bread | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Large baking tray
- •Heavy-bottomed saucepan or stockpot
- •Stick blender or countertop blender
- •Ladle
Instructions
- 1
Roast the squash
Set the oven to 200C/180C fan. Lay the squash halves cut-side up on a baking tray and tuck the onion quarters and unpeeled garlic cloves around them. Drizzle everything with olive oil, season with salt, and put the tray in the oven. Forget about it for forty minutes or so. You'll know it's ready when the squash flesh has gone soft enough to yield completely to a spoon and the edges have caught and caramelised to a deep, sticky amber. The onion will have collapsed. The garlic will be sweet and squeezable. The kitchen will smell like October.
Roasting the squash in its skin means no peeling, no wrestling with a raw butternut and a knife that isn't up to the job. The flesh scoops out once it's soft. Less effort, better flavour. - 2
Scoop and combine
Scoop the roasted squash flesh out of its skin and into a heavy-bottomed pan. Squeeze the garlic from its papery skins and add it along with the soft onion. Drop in the butter and let it melt into the warm vegetables. Add the cumin and stir everything together over a gentle heat for a minute or two, just long enough for the cumin to bloom and the whole thing to start smelling deeply, warmly sweet.
- 3
Add stock and simmer
Pour in the stock. It should cover everything comfortably. Bring it to a gentle simmer and let it bubble quietly for ten minutes. This isn't about further cooking so much as letting the flavours get to know each other. The soup will darken slightly and the kitchen will settle into that particular warmth that only a pot of soup on the hob can give a room.
- 4
Blend until velvety
Take the pan off the heat. Blend until completely smooth. A stick blender in the pan is simplest. You're after something that pours like cream and catches the light: a deep, vivid orange that looks like autumn in a bowl. If it's too thick, add a splash more stock. If too thin, let it simmer uncovered for another few minutes. Grate in the nutmeg now, just a whisper of it.
Go carefully with the nutmeg. It should be felt rather than tasted, a quiet warmth at the back of the throat, not a flavour that announces itself. - 5
Season and serve
Return the pan to a low heat. Season with salt and pepper. Taste it. Then taste it again. The sweetness of the squash should be balanced by the salt, with the cumin and nutmeg sitting somewhere in the background. Ladle into warm bowls. A swirl of cream across the surface. Good bread on the side, torn, not sliced. That's dinner.
Chef Tips
- •Choose a squash that feels heavy for its size with a matte, unblemished skin. A shiny butternut was picked too young. The dull ones have had time to develop their sugars. Press the skin with your thumbnail. If it dents easily, walk past it.
- •Roasting is everything here. Boiled squash makes a watery, timid soup. Roasted squash makes a soup with depth and backbone, because the caramelisation gives you a layer of flavour that no amount of seasoning can replicate. Don't rush the oven.
- •A swirl of cream is welcome but not compulsory. On its own, the soup is clean and bright. With cream, it becomes richer and more comforting. Both versions are good. Read the evening and decide.
- •This soup keeps beautifully. It thickens overnight in the fridge and tastes even better reheated the next day, which makes it a fine thing to cook on Sunday for Monday's lunch, carried to work in a flask if you're that sort of person.
Advance Preparation
- •The squash can be roasted up to a day ahead and refrigerated. Scoop the flesh when ready to make the soup.
- •The finished soup keeps in the fridge for up to four days and improves overnight as the flavours settle and deepen.
- •Freezes well for up to three months. Freeze without the cream and add it fresh when reheating.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 380g)
Calories
330 calories
Total Fat
21 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
37 mg
Sodium
910 mg
Total Carbohydrates
35 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
4 g
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