An alternative Christmas starter
Ingredients
- 50 g butter
- 2 carrots
- 1 leek
- 2 sticks celery
- 1 large butternut squash
- 0.5 medium onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1.2 l chicken/vegetable stock
- 110 ml pouring cream
- seasoning
Method
- Begin by peeling and chopping all of the vegetables into chunky pieces.
- Select a large saucepan and slowly melt the butter.
- Add in all of the vegetables and mix thoroughly and continue to pan roast them for 6-8 minutes. Adding a little cinnamon at this stage will give the vegetables a nice spiced flavour.
- Continue to keep a constant stir on the vegetables to prevent them from sticking to the saucepan.
- Season lightly at this stage.
- Next you need to add in the cream and 2/3 of the stock.
- Bring this entire mixture to the boil and then reduce the heat to a constant simmer.
- Simmer for the next 15-20 minutes or until all of the vegetables have softened.
- Blitz the soup until smooth, adjusting the consistency with the remaining stock as required.
- Taste the soup and season accordingly. If you wish you can add a little additional Cinnamon at this stage.
- Serve the soup in a small bowl or china teacup with a swirl of either cream or crème fraiche lighted spiced with ground cinnamon.
- If you wish you can add in a cinnamon stick with the vegetables at the beginning and remove it before the blitzing stage.
