More colorful, tasty winter food: butternut squash in a whole new way

Sticking with the idea of brightening the blahs of winter with vivid, fragrant food, here's an easy to make but complex dish that's filling and seriously delicious. It features winter squash. It's gluten-free, if that's your thing now. It can also be vegan, if that's your thing. This very thick soup is a winner every which way.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Chickpea Soup
serves 4-6 depending on size of serving

       1 butternut squash, peeled and diced, reserving the seeds*

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 dried red chili, crumbled

2-3 tbsp olive oil

2 sticks celery, trimmed and finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

a few sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped, stalks finely chopped

2 small red onions, peeled and finely chopped

6 cups organic chicken or vegetable stock

2 cans (13/5-14 oz) chickpeas, drained

1/3 c ground/finely chopped almonds

½ tablespoon fennel seeds

½ tablespoon sesame seeds

½ tablespoon poppy seeds

       sea salt

              freshly ground black pepper

              zest of  2 lemons

              a few sprigs of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped

              harissa or other hot sauce

              extra virgin olive oil

*if you don’t have squash seeds, use ½ cup packaged pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place the squash, cumin and crumbled chili on to a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, mix together and place in the preheated oven. Roast for 45 minutes until the squash is tender.

Once the squash is roasted, heat a large saucepan and pour in 2 tbsp olive oil. Add celery, garlic, parsley stalks and two-thirds of the onion. Cook gently with a lid on until the veggies are soft, about 5-8 minutes. Add the roasted squash and let it sweat for a few minutes, then pour in the stock. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the chickpeas and simmer for 15 minutes more.

Meanwhile, in 2 tsp olive oil, toast the squash/pumpkin seeds with the ground almonds, fennel, sesame and poppy seeds until they are nicely browned all over.

Season the soup well with salt and pepper.  If you have a hand-held blender, whiz the soup for a few seconds so it thickens, but there are still some chunky bits. If you don’t have one, pour about 2/3 of the soup into a food processor and whiz a few rounds. Pour it back into the pot and blend.

Keep the soup on simmer. Mix together lemon zest, chopped parsley leaves and mint leaves. Chop remaining onion until it’s really fine, then mix into the zesty mixture.

To serve, spoon ½ tsp harissa paste or other hot sauce into each bowl. Divide the zesty herb mixture between the bowls. Ladle in the soup and stir each bowl once with a spoon to blend everything. Sprinkle on top the toasted seeds and almonds, and finish with a drizzle of really fruity olive oil.

Serve this with toasted pita, naan or lavash, a green salad, and perhaps a cheese platter if you're not vegan.

NOTE: if you use vegetable stock, this soup is vegan and gluten-free.