Autumn spicy soup

Now the summer is over and autumn has arrived some of my favourite foods come into season. Pumpkins, venison, butternut squash, celeriac and parsnips. I have plenty of good seasonal dishes I would like to share and I am going to begin with a nice simple soup: something which always warms me up on a cold day.

Ingredients:

2 medium white onions

2 large sticks of celery

2 medium leeks

2 chillies

1 tbsp. ground cumin

3 carrots

½ large butternut squash

3 sweet potatoes

Vegetable stock

A small pinch of salt

Pepper

To serve

Roasted squash seeds or croutons

A chunky slice of bread and butter.

Method:

Dice the onion and chilli; slice the celery leeks and carrot. Heat a large pan with olive oil and add the chopped veg. sweat off for 5 minutes.

Peel and chop the squash and the sweet potatoes and add them to the pan with the cumin and cook for a further 5-10 minutes on a medium high heat. 

Cover ingredients plus an extra inch or so on top with a weak vegetable stock and turn the heat down to a medium low temperature and leave to cook out for at least 60-90 minutes stirring occasionally. Once all the veg is cooked through and it has cooked out for plenty of time take off the heat and blend with a hand blender until smooth. Adjust seasoning accordingly.