PREP TIME: 20 MINUTES COOK TIME: 1 HOUR FEEDS: 6 AS A MAIN COURSE
It had been such a long, cold winter and the very thought of a warming soup was on the top of my list when my mother-in-law asked me to contribute to a family dinner. To increase the intensity of flavors, I roasted the squash, garlic and ginger. It was well worth it.
NUTRITIONAL BITES
You may already know that butternut squash is loaded with antioxidant carotenoids to protect your body’s cells from damaging free radicals but did you also know that it is a rich source of dietary fibre, helping to keep little and big tummies satisfied for longer? Well now you do and you can feel good about all that.
Roasting Part
1 butternut squash
1 head of garlic
1” thumb sized piece of ginger (keep the skin on if organic)
½ Tbsp. coconut oil
2 teaspoons olive oil
Sea salt and ground black pepper
Other Ingredients
1 sweet white onion
1 teaspoon of coconut oil
1 ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ cup of light coconut milk (from BPA free lined can, preferably)
½ cup of filtered water
LET'S COOK!
Set oven to 375F and line a baking tray with parchment paper (preferably unbleached/chlorine free).
Cut the squash from the tip to the stem and pull apart into two halves, scooping out the seeds and all the stringy bits.
Using your fingers, cover the squash inside and out with the coconut oil and then sprinkle salt and pepper over the fleshy side (this part doubles as a hand moisturizer).
Cut the top off the head of garlic, just enough to expose the raw garlic and then dribble the olive oil down into the cloves and season with salt and pepper.
Dribble the other teaspoon of olive oil on to the ginger and massage in all over and then add the ginger and garlic to the tray for roasting.
Cook for 50 minutes or until the flesh of the squash is soft, when you poke it with a fork. (The garlic and ginger will be cooked before the squash so they are ready to come out too)
Whilst everything is cooling down, dice up the onion and sauté with coconut oil at a medium to high heat so that onions start to ‘catch” and get a little burnt around the edges, - this amps up the flavour.
Add in the smoked paprika and sauté for another few minutes just so the flavours combine
Scrap all the squash flesh from its skin and put into a blender jug (I use the Wildside jug for the Blendtec).
Add in the coconut milk, water, ginger, onion/paprika mix and 4 of the roasted garlic cloves (you will have a few roasted cloves left which you can spread on some crackers or put on top of your veggies… yum).
Blend everything up together until it is creamy and smooth – you may have to do it in two batches. Season with sea salt and pepper and if it’s too thick, add some more water or coconut milk.
Now warm up a bowl of this heartwarming delight….you deserve it :)