There are plenty of recipes for Pumpkin Soup out there, but I have always sworn by this one from Delia Smith’s Vegetarian Collection as my go to recipe. I love how the sweetcorn blended in with the soup gives it a bit more texture, and how those crispy fresh kernels just pop in between your teeth when you munch down on them. This is the original recipe but I’ve also highlighted where you can make substitutions to make it healthier (it’s quite obvious, really).

Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Sweetcorn

700g … butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and chopped into 1″ dice
570g … sweetcorn kernels, from about 5-6 cobs of corn
25g …… butter (use olive oil instead)
1 ………. medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
275ml .. whole milk water
725ml .. vegetable stock
1 tsp ….. melted butter (for the sweetcorn)
Salt and black pepper

Method

♥ Heat the olive oil/butter in a large lidded saucepan, and fry the onions until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin and half of the sweetcorn. Give everything a good stir and season with salt and pepper. Cook over very low heat, with the lid on, for 10 minutes to sweat the vegetables.

♥ Pour in the water/milk and stock and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, with the lid on but leave a little gap or the milk (if you’re using it) might bubble over.

♥ Meanwhile, grill the remaining sweetcorn with/without butter on a baking tray for a bout 8 minutes, or until the kernels are nicely toasted. Make sure to keep an eye out for them so they don’t burn, and give them a shake half way through so they grill evenly.

♥ When the soup is ready, blend it to a purée. Serve the soup in warm bowls and sprinkle with the toasted sweetcorn.

♥♥♥ Enjoy!! ♥♥♥

Note: I relied on this soup as sustenance quite a bit when I was doing the Wild Rose Detox, but if you are on a low carb diet, then this is sadly NOT the soup for you. I mean, it’s not the same as eating a bowl of rice, and it’s still super healthy, but both corn and butternut squash are two vegetables which contain the most carbohydrates. I guess I’m going to have to find another soup recipe for the low-carb, low-sugar diet I’m (trying) to follow for the Bikini Fit Exercise Bootcamp, which I’ve decided to subject myself to for the next 4 weeks! Boo hoo.