A punchy soup which is really easy, looks amazing and is cheap.
Serves quite a few
Butternut squash whole
Beetroot whole
Onion (skin on)
Garlic 5 or 6 cloves, skins on
Fresh chilli ideally Scotch bonnet
Ginger thumb-sized piece, peeled
Red pepper
Celery 1 stick
Stock 1 litre ham/chicken/vegetable
White wine vinegar
Heat oven to 180°C.
Halve squash vertically, remove seeds and stringy bits. Cut into large chunks. Add all dry ingredients into a deep-sided roasting tray and splash with olive oil and salt. Mix thoroughly then arrange so celery and ginger are at the bottom and protected from direct heat by everything else. Roast for one hour. Remove from oven. Allow to cool.
Peel the squash, beetroot and onion. Cut the tops off garlic, red pepper and chillies (seeds too if you don’t want the heat). Stick it all in a blender.
Whilst it’s thick, you can take out 200ml or so of the puree and store it in a jam-jar in the fridge – it can be used as a salsa and will keep for a week.
Dilute the rest with stock to desired thickness.