Time for warming soups

Waking up on a grey autumnal Saturday morning, with my youngest still having a cold, and the rest of us trying to avoid it, it seemed like the right time to make a nice warming soup for our lunch. Since we can now get nice winter squashes, and soup based on squash are generally quite simple to pull off, I decided to make a nice warming winter squash soup. I wanted to boost the disease-fighting aspect, so I used some chillies (milder ones, to keep the boys on board), garlic and ginger. The end result worked well, with everyone having a good healthy dose of it. There was also enough that I could pop some in the freezer for another day, when we might not have the time for making it from scratch before lunch.

1 large winter squash, ca. 1.6 kg , cut into chunks ca. 2 cm across.
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
2 mild, red chillies, sliced
1 large piece of ginger (ca. 2 thumbs worth), grated
1 tsp turmeric
1 liter of vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
Dash of soya sauce
Dash of tabasco sauce
Olive oil, 2 tbsp

Gently cook the onions in the oil in a large saucepan (ca. 10 min.), then add the garlic, chillies and ginger. Cook for another minute or so before adding the squash, raising the heat to medium-high and cooking for another 5-10 min. with the lid on the saucepan. Add the turmeric and coat the squash. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Then pop the lid of the saucepan on, and reduce the heat to allow the soup to boil, but not too excitedly! After around 15-20 minute the squash should be cooked – check with a small sharp knife, you should be able to pierce the squash pieces without much resistance. Then add the soya sauce and tabasco sauce, and season with salt and pepper. Allow to cool a little (if you have time), then place in a blender. The wait is just to minimise the chance of getting scolded when transferring the soup. You may need to do the blending* in batches. I use a large bowl for putting the blended soup in, while transferring the rest into the blender from the saucepan. Transfer back to the saucepan and reheat gently just prior to serving (preferably with a nice warm bun).