No-Chop Butternut Soup
+ The Secret to Cooking Without Recipes

Have you ever wondered where I got the name for my blog from?

Well it’s a tribute to one of the first things I ever cooked.

When I was little I remember watching Humphrey B Bear where someone was reading the story of Stonesoup. Basically, it’s a fable of how a stranger comes to town and encourages everyone to come together and share what they have to make a soup, with his special stone as the center.

If you’re not familiar with the story you can read it over here.

Anyway, my small mind completely missed the moral to the story. It went straight to the idea that you could make soup from stones. How cool!

Luckily my mother decided to humour me and we made a pot of our own version of stone soup using a stone from the garden and some veg from the fridge.

I remember being super excited with our efforts and so years later I decided to call my blog Stonesoup as a homage to that experience.

One of the next soups I made, when I was a little older was a classic butternut pumpkin soup.

It was hard not to love it with all that velvety sweetness. But over the years I’ve found I haven’t made butternut soups very often for one simple reason. The whole peeling and chopping thing.

So. Much. Work.

But with prime pumpkin season just around the corner, well at least here in Australia, I wanted to share my new favourite butternut soup recipe…

And the best bit?

There’s no chopping involved!

And while I’ve got you…

The Secret to Cooking Without Recipes

The third and final installment of my free meal planning training series has just been released. This final video reveals the secret to cooking without recipes!

It’s only going to be available for a little while longer so make sure you don’t miss it!

Just enter your details below to get instant access :)

_________

No-Chop Butternut Soup

The idea for this recipe actually came from a Stonesoup reader who got it from her 80-year-old neighbour!

I just love the idea of putting the whole butternut in the oven to roast and soften into something manageable, rather than having to use all your muscle power to chop up the butternut for soup.

I like to leave the skin on but get rid of the seeds before pureeing because I like the flavour of the skins but prefer to avoid the nutty texture of the seeds. If you prefer to use the whole butternut though, you can.

enough for 3
1 butternut pumpkin
3C stock
1-2T soy sauce
sour cream to serve

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Pop in the whole butternut and roast for about an hour or until it feels squishy when you touch it.

2. Halve the cooked butternut and scrape out the seeds and save them for snacks. Put the butternut flesh and skin, if you like, in a saucepan.

3. Add stock and some soy sauce and bring to the boil. Simmer for a few minutes.

4. Purée using a stick blender until as smooth as you fancy.

5. Taste and season with a little more soy if needed. Serve with sour cream or yoghurt.

VARIATIONS
vegan / dairy-free – serve with cashew sour cream. Soak raw cashews in water for about 8 hours. Drain, then process in a food processor with enough fresh water to make a purée. Season with a little salt and enough lemon juice to make it as tart as you feel like. OR use tahini instead.

other veg – feel free to use sweet potato, any pumpkin or winter squash. Other root veg roasted whole like this also work well in soups. Try parsnip, carrots, beets, onions, turnip, swede (rutabaga) or a combo.

spice – a little ground cumin or coriander can be nice. Or a pinch of cinnamon. Chilli also works well with the sweetness of the butternut.

herbs – try a little fresh thyme or some sage added with the stock.

Thai – add in a few tablespoons of red curry paste and replace some of the stock with a can of coconut cream.

With love,
Jules x

ps. This is the only time this year that I’ll have these FREE meal planning training videos available. To make sure you don’t miss out, enter your details below: