Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Chilli and Ginger

I am sure, like me, you all are fed up with this miserable weather. I look out the window and all I see is rain, rain and guess what? More rain! So, I thought the best way to warm up (and cheer up) would be to make a good old bowl of home-made soup. My choice of soup comes from Lorraine Pascale's book Home Cooking Made Easy and it really is easy! I have made Lorraine's tasty Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Chilli and Ginger a few times but my most recent attempt was particularly delicious (not wanting to blow my own trumpet or anything!). I think it was because I was patient (for once!) and let the onion spend a good amount of time softening down. A boring wait I know but it was worth it to get a real sweetness and depth of flavour. Anyway, butternut squash lovers this soup is for you and for those of you who do not like too much heat, just omit the chilli - it will still taste great! 

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Chilli and Ginger

Makes about 1.2 litres, serves 4

1 medium butternut squash, unpeeled, deseeded and cut in half top to bottom

1 clove of garlic, unpeeled and squashed

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

50g butter

1 large onion, finely diced

1 x 2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated

Pinch of dried chilli flakes or 1-2 chillies deseeded and finely chopped (optional)

900 ml of liquid chicken stock (I used the Knor Chicken Stock Pots)

Squeeze of lime juice 

To serve - A splash of coconut milk and a few fresh coriander leaves (I missed this bit out as it was too rainy to pop to the shop!)

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C / 425°F / Gas Mark 7. Put the butternut squash halves on a roasting tray with the garlic. Slash the squash with a knife, then drizzle with olive oil and season well. Roast in the oven for about 30-35 minutes or until it is nice and soft. 

2. While the squash is roasting, put a tablespoon of oil and butter into a large pan over a low heat. Add the onion and seasoning and leave to soften down, stirring occasionally. This could take around 20 minutes but, as Lorraine explains, it is worth it for the sweetness of flavour.

3. Remove the squash from the oven and leave to cool a little. As soon as it is cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh from the skin and set aside. 

4. Once the onion is soft, squeeze in the roasted garlic clove, discarding the skin, the add the insides of the squash, ginger, chilli and stock. Bring to the boil and then take it off the heat.

5. Then blend the soup until smooth. This can be done either in batches in a blender or, like I did, using a hand blender. Once the soup has been blitzed, return to the heat until it is piping hot. Add a squeeze of lime and season to your liking. Then, if desired, serve with a little coconut milk over the top and a few coriander leaves and finely sliced chilli. 

Pretty Little Cupcakes

So, this is my first post and what better way to start than with the very fashionable and cheerful CUPCAKE! Cupcakes seem to be the baked good that is on everybody's lips at the moment and rightly so. They are the perfect size (which allows you to feel only a little bit naughty when devouring one), they can be decorated in the most beautiful ways and can be literally any flavour you desire... chocolate, vanilla, rose, pimms, peanut butter, coffee, lemon, vodka, coconut and so the lists goes on! 

In the past month I have tried a number of cupcake recipes and Marian Keyes's 'Consistently Reliable Cupcakes' from her new book Saved by Cake have proved a winner every time. It is apt that my first culinary endeavour on this blog comes from Marian. Suffering from depression, Marian found baking to be her saviour. Although she explains in her book that baking has not 'cured' her, she writes that it gets her through. I guess it is the same for me. Although baking a cake will not magically make the pain of loosing my Mum disappear, it will take my mind of it for a few hours. Not only that, I get something delicious as a result!

Anyway...enough rambling! Here is the recipe:

Consistently Reliable Cupcakes

 Makes 12 (or 8 Muffin-size cupcakes)

125g butter, at room temperature

125g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 vanilla pod or a teaspoon of vanilla extract

125g self raising flour

Buttercream Icing

225g butter, at room temperature

300g icing sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

food colouring (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 160°C / 325°F / gas 3 if you'd like flat top cakes or 180°C / 350°F / gas 4 if you'd like them roundy. Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with paper cases.

2. Cream your butter in a bowl, then add the sugar until your mixture goes pale and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well between each addition. If the mixture looks curdled, just sieve in a little of the flour and beat until the problem goes away! 

3. Add the scraped out seeds of the vanilla pod or the vanilla extract to the mix and then sieve in the flour. Gently fold this into the mix, using as few turns of the spatula as possible. Then fill the paper cases with the mixture until approximately two-thirds full.

4. Bake in the oven for 22 minutes if you want flat tops or for 18-20 minutes if you'd prefer dome shaped. Cool on a wire rack. 

5. To make the icing, cut the butter into chunks into a bowl and slowly sieve in the icing sugar. Beat the two together until smooth and creamy (start of slow, otherwise you will disappear in a poof of icing sugar). Add the vanilla extract and food colouring, if you are using, and beat again. 

6. Use a palette knife to smooth the icing over the tops of the cupcakes or use a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle and pipe fat swirls. Then decorate however you wish! I used red heart and pink shimmer decorations from Sainsbury's.

I am no piping expert so I apologise if they look a little dodgy but I gave it a go and hopefully (with a lot of practice) I will improve!