Roasted Butternut Squash & Brown Butter Sage Soup

⏱ 60 min · Serves 4

Roasting the squash until the edges caramelise gives this soup a deep, sweet flavour you just don't get from boiling. A drizzle of nutty brown butter with crisp sage leaves turns it into something worth lighting a candle for.

Per serving: 420 kcal · 7.0g protein · 33.0g carbs · 30.0g fat

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash (about 1.2kg), peeled, deseeded and cut into 3cm chunks
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 900ml hot vegetable stock
• 100ml double cream (or full-fat coconut milk)
• 50g unsalted butter
• 10 fresh sage leaves
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan. Toss the squash, onion, garlic and carrot with the olive oil, cumin, cinnamon, 1 tsp salt and plenty of pepper on a large baking tray.
2. Spread in a single layer and roast for 35 minutes, turning once halfway, until the squash is tender and browned at the edges.
3. Tip the roasted vegetables into a large saucepan, pour in the hot stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes so everything mingles.
4. Blend until completely smooth with a stick blender (or in a jug blender, in batches). Stir in the cream and warm through gently; loosen with a splash more stock if you like it thinner. Taste and adjust the salt.
5. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat. Once it foams and smells nutty (about 3 minutes), add the sage leaves and fry for 30 seconds until crisp. Remove from the heat immediately.
6. Ladle the soup into bowls, spoon over the brown butter and sage, and scatter with pumpkin seeds. Serve with crusty bread.