Roasted Pumpkin Soup

This is butternut squash, not pumpkin, and people do tell me so. In Hungarian every squash is called pumpkin, so this has been pumpkin soup to me my whole life and I am not going to start calling it something else now. Direct translation, no apology.

The roasting is the entire point. It is what gives the soup the deep, slightly smoky flavour that boiling never will, and skipping it gives you a different and much duller soup. The brown butter and sage are optional and I would not skip those either.

Ingredients

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 whole head of garlic
• Olive oil, for roasting
• Salt and pepper
• 800ml (3⅓ cups) chicken or beef stock
• 150g butter
• 3 to 4 sprigs fresh sage
• Chilli oil, for serving

Equipment

• Blender or stick blender
• Roasting tray
• Aluminium foil
• Fine sieve

The Simple Process

1. Prep: Heat the oven to 220°C, or 200°C fan (425°F). Halve the squash and scoop out the seeds. Peel the potatoes and cut them into rough chunks. Cut the top off the whole head of garlic and leave the skin on.
2. Roast: Put everything on a tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover the tray tightly with foil and roast for 35 minutes, then take the foil off and give it another 10. The foil softens everything, and the last 10 minutes uncovered is where the colour comes from.
3. The Brown Butter: Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. It will foam, then settle, then start to smell nutty and turn golden brown. Add the sage leaves and fry until crisp. Lift the sage out, then strain the butter to remove the browned bits.
4. Blend: Scoop the squash flesh out of the skin and squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins. Blend with the potatoes, adding the stock a little at a time until it is smooth and as thick as you want it. I like it thick, so I do not always use all 800ml.
5. Finish: Bring the soup to a boil, then season with salt and stir in some of the brown butter. It adds a second layer of that smoky flavour and makes the texture richer.
6. Serve: Top each bowl with a drizzle of brown butter and the crisp sage leaves. If you skipped the butter, a dash of chilli oil does the job instead.