Bowl That Soothes

Soup has been around since 6000BC when the main ingredient was delicious hippopotamus - mmm blubbery. The modern word soup originates from sop which was a stewish soup served on a hunk of bread. Interestingly enough we also get the word restaurant from soup, French street vendors used to sell soup called restaurer and in 1765 in Paris a shop opened selling soup and it became known as a restaurant. Isn't Wikipedia a great thing!

The French restaurer was a highly concentrated soup that was sold as an antidote to physical exhaustion and funnily enough soup is something I turn to when I am too tired to eat anything or cook anything.

Yesterday after a trip to my home office in the morning a train ride to London and an afternoon trying to make sense of all things environmental I finally got home at 20:50 tired, hungry and grumpy. My wonderful boyfriend not only picked me up from the train station but when we got back had also made soup for me!

Not only was it as yummy as it looks but it was also really low fat and stuffed to the gills with veg, virtuous and soothing what a heavenly combination.

Butternut Soup

1 Large butternut squash peel and chopped into chunks

2 Onions chopped

3 Sticks celery

5 Small carrots

1 Chili

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 - 2 Tsp cumin depending on taste

1 Pint organic chicken stock

1 Pint water

Salt

Heat up the oil, add the veg and sweat for 10 - 15 mins until onions are translucent, put in the cumin and stir round for a min or two then add the stock and water. Cook until the veg is tender and blend. Add more water if it is thick or even better if you aren't a porker like me add a tin of coconut milk.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!