Butternut soup is a firm winter favourite in many homes. It’s also such a quick and easy soup to make, yet I have a very good friend who insists she doesn’t know how. Many recipes simply call for you to cook up some onions, butternut and potato and season to taste with cream or orange juice. Easy peasy, and it will be good. But when it starts getting really chilly outside, I like this spicy version to warm you up, just as simple but a little more tasty.

Spicy butternut soup

Serves 10

2 large onions, halved and sliced
750 g – 1 kg butternut, peeled and cubed
1 clove of garlic, crushed
15 ml freshly grated ginger
1 small red chilli, seeded and chopped
15 ml curry powder
10 ml ground cumin
15 ml lemon juice
1 – 1,25 litres chicken or vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
250 ml coconut milk
50 ml fresh, chopped coriander

1. Heat an AMC 24 cm High over a medium temperature until the Visiotherm reaches the first red area.
2. Sauté the onions until transparent and add butternut. Sauté for 3 – 4 minutes and add spices and lemon juice, sautéing for a few more minutes to develop the flavours.
3. Add the stock, cover with lid and allow Visiotherm to reach first red area again. Reduce heat to lowest setting and cook for 20 – 25 minutes, or until butternut is soft.
4. Remove from heat and using a stick blender, liquidise the vegetables until smooth. (Or pour half of soup into food processor and blend. Do the same with remaining soup.)
5. Season to taste and stir in coconut milk. If preferred, thin soup with more stock, milk or coconut milk. Heat through, garnish with coriander and serve with bread of your choice.

Tips:

• Substitute coconut milk with cream, milk or Bulgarian yoghurt. If using the yoghurt, only add once soup has stopped simmering and do not reheat, to help prevent curdling.
• To make this in an AMC 20 cm High (as in photo), reduce your quantities slightly.

When discussing soup (as one does), I’ve often heard people say “I only eat butternut soup”. Now that’s just sad. I love soup. All kinds of soup, including butternut soup, just not exclusively butternut soup. But one thing I do love about butternut soup is how simple it is to make.

So last year, probably after eating a second delicious bowl of butternut soup, I decided to try making sweet potato soup. And do you know what, I think my sweet potato soup might just become the new butternut soup. Easy to make, it’s full of flavour and perfect to warm you on a chilly evening.

So if you love soup, butternut soup in particular, spice things up and make this sweet potato & chickpea soup for dinner tonight.

Sweet potato & chickpea soup
Serves 6

2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 kg sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (or don’t bother to peel!)
15 ml fresh, grated ginger
1 red chilli, seeded and chopped (optional)
15 ml curry powder
10 ml ground cumin
5 ml ground coriander
1 – 1,25 litres chicken or vegetable stock
200 ml coconut milk
1 tin (425 g) chickpeas, drained
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
50 ml fresh, chopped coriander

1. Preheat an AMC 24 cm High over a medium temperature until the Visiotherm reaches the first red area.
2. Sauté onions until lightly browned, and add sweet potatoes. Sauté for a few minutes then add the ginger, chilli and spices and sauté for another minute.
3. Add stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer with lid on for 25 – 30 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are soft.
4. Blend to a smooth consistency in a food processor or with a stick blender.
5. Stir in the coconut milk, add the chickpeas and season to taste. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve.

Variations:
▪ 45 ml leftover curry paste, e.g. korma curry paste, can be added to the soup instead of the spices.

This is where we’re at:
The blog framework is up.
We have a new logo designed.
I understand the basics of blogging.
There are new products to discuss.
And I have old and new recipes waiting to be shared.

So why is this blog not being published yet? Because I have no clue about where to start. Do I start by sharing my yummy new recipes even though we have no followers yet? Or do I start creating an archive filled with past recipes printed in AMC Spice, even though potential readers may have seen some of these already?

I have no real answer to this yet, but I do know that I need to start somewhere. And maybe it’s not such a bad idea to get started with old recipes, that way we can have them archived and available for you to view while I still make some design changes to the site. So thats what I’m going to do.

The last few gloomy grey days in Cape Town have got me craving the only good thing about winter: comfort food. And my winter comfort food staple is soup. You know what I love about soup — it’s inherently a one dish meal which means less dishes. Perfect. Of course you can get fancy and serve your soups topped with homemade croutons, grilled parmesan wafers or roasted mushrooms, but I usually opt for a quick throw-it-all-together soup. One that’s perfect as an easy family meal. And this chunky tomato soup is definitely that — hearty, tasty and quick to make, it’s ideal for a weeknight supper. You can also easily vary the ingredients according to what you like and have on hand, and I promise it will still taste good. But if you’re in Cape Town hurry and make this tonight, as I see its warming up again this weekend.

Tomato soup with pasta & sausages
Serves 6 – 8

2 onions, coarsely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large red pepper, seeded and cubed
2 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
3 – 4 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
15 – 20 ml dried thyme
15 ml cake flour
2 tins (400 g) chopped tomatoes
1,25 litre vegetable or chicken stock
10 ml sugar
180 g (250 ml) small pasta shells or other small pasta shapes
2 – 3 Chorizo or other spicy sausages, halved and sliced
8 – 10 peppadews, cut in chunks (optional)
lemon juice, salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Italian parsley or fresh thyme for garnish

1. Heat an AMC 24 cm High over a medium temperature until the Visiotherm reaches the first red area.
2. Sauté all the vegetables until onions become transparent, and add the spices and thyme. Stir in flour until absorbed.
3. Stir in tomatoes, stock and sugar. Bring to the boil over a medium temperature and add pasta. Stir well and cover with lid.
4. Allow Visiotherm to reach first red area again and reduce heat to low-medium temperature. Cook for 15 – 20 minutes and stir soup once or twice during this time. Cook until pasta is tender.
5. Stir in sausages and peppadews and season to taste with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Season well as the pasta needs enough salt. Thin soup with extra stock if necessary.
6. Heat through, garnish with Italian parsley or thyme and serve with a bread of your choice.

Variation:
• Omit the sausages or substitute them with a tin of lentils or beans if preferred. Or alternatively add another meat of your choice to the soup like cooked strips of chicken or sliced, cooked pork sausages.