Autumn Roasted Vegetable Soup

I don’t know about you, but with the nights closing in and the temperatures dropping, I can’t think of anything cosier than a nice, hot bowl of soup. This soup in particular fits the bill. It is packed with flavours of the season, is quite filling and, if I say so myself, delicious.

It is packed with flavours of the season, is quite filling and, if I say so myself, delicious.

Roasting the vegetables brings so much richness. This soup benefits from being as smooth as possible, so blitzing in batches in a blender is recommended, but of course an immersion blender will do.

This soup is perfect to warm trick-or-treaters and firework watchers, and makes a very nice (if filling) first course for Thanksgiving dinner. 

Ingredients

• 1 kg orange fleshed sweet potatoes (about 4 medium)

• 1 kg carrots (about 8 large) trimmed and peeled

• 1 kg butternut squash (about 1 large) ends trimmed, cut in half lengthwise, seeds and stringy bits scooped out and discarded

• 2 teaspoons cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 2 large onions, finely chopped

• 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 tablespoon of butter

• 2.5cm piece of ginger

• 3 litres of vegetable stock

• 1 cup cream

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• Minced fresh parsley and sage

• Toasted pumpkin seeds

• Sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°. Place unpeeled sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, and garlic cloves on two trays and drizzle some of the oil over the vegetables. Roast 40-50 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally (the carrots often take longer to become tender,so keeping them on their own tray may be a good idea). When you remove the vegetables from the oven, leave them to cool before removing the skin from the sweet potatoes (it comes off very easily once they are cooked) and scoop the flesh out of the tough skin of the squash.

While the vegetables roast, take 1 tablespoon of oil and one tablespoon of butter, and add to a frying pan. Heat on medium high until the butter has foamed, then add the onions. Cook the onions until they are translucent, about 5 mins, then add the spices. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for a further 4 minutes.

Transfer the roasted vegetables and spiced onions to a Dutch oven or large saucepan. Add the vegetable broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, 15-25 minutes to allow flavours to blend.

Add cream and stir to mix. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper if desired.

Puree soup using an immersion blender. Alternatively, cool the soup slightly and puree in batches in a blender, return to the saucepan and heat through. 

Ladle into serving bowls. Sprinkle each with minced herbs and toasted pumpkin seeds. Add a dollop of sour cream if you desire!

Enjoy!