A recipe for squash, red pepper and red chilli soup

This recipe is super-easy. You don't need stock, onions, or spices - just roast the vegetables, blend and add hot water. It has a surprisingly complex flavour - sweet from the squash and red pepper, earthy from the garlic and fiery from the chilli. 

I make so much squash soup at this time of year, as I tend to have lots of squash which aren't fully ripe when I pick them in October (they have to come in before the first frost). So, they all sit on the window sills until they are ready to eat (usually from Christmas time onwards). It's lovely to be eating something so sunny at such a gloomy l time of year. 

Butternut squash, red pepper and red chilli soup (serves two)

500g butternut squash

1 red pepper

1 red chilli

6 cloves garlic

Hot water
Squeeze of lemon

Preheat the oven to 200C, 400F (180C fan).

Peel the butternut squash, cut into chunks about 3cm across. Deseed and chop the red pepper. Put them both in a baking tray with the whole red chilli and the garlic cloves (still in their skins), drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and cook for 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.

Boil the kettle. Scrape the vegetables into a saucepan, pop the garlic cloves out of their skins, and halve and deseed the chilli (you can add whole or half the chilli depending on how hot it is). Blend everything together, pour in the hot water until you have the consistency you like. Squeeze in some lemon juice, add more salt if needed, and top with yoghurt or creme fraiche if you fancy.