A bit of a squash in here!

I haven't made any soup other than the obligatory chicken for ages. After a winter of having it for lunch every single day, enough was enough!

But now that yom tov is on the horizon, it's time to get a bit more adventurous with my soup flavours - there are only so many nights in a row you can eat chicken soup with kneidlach without turning into a giblet...

Butternut squash has already come up once in this blog and it'll probably come up again before too long - it's such a versatile veggie, I can't really get enough of it! I have to confess I am lazy though - after a bad experience trying to peel and chop an entire squash, I now buy them ready prepared. It's one of those things I like to pass off as a 'necessary expense'.

When I put this soup on my Rosh Hashanah menu I planned to prepare it as a straightforward Butternut Squash Soup - but when I took out my saucepan this morning I was overcome with the urge to zing it up a bit. The result was surprisingly different and delicious!

GINGER AND ORANGE BNS SOUP

Ingredients

1kg chopped and peeled BNS cubes
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 sticks of celery, sliced  
5 cups of water
3 teaspoons chicken stock
0.5 teaspoons dried ginger
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 dessert spoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 cubes frozen coriander
Salt and pepper to taste
Spring onion to garnish

Put all the ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes until all the vegetables are soft. Blend and add more water if it's too thick for your tastes. Serve garnished with spring onions and some onion and garlic croutons.

This soup serves 6 and works out as 0pp a bowl (though it may come to 1pp for more than a bowlful!)

Freezes well.