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Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup

March 14, 2015 by manjirichitnis 12 Comments

As spring begins to unfold and the weather changes to beautiful sunny days and chilly evenings, I like that we can still enjoy warming and wholesome soups. Butternut squash is so versatile and there are various ways to use it in soups, curries, salads, etc.

Soup and stews are a great meal option for so many reasons, here are my top 5 reasons why I enjoy cooking both:

  • Delicious, hearty and wholesome
  • Easy, fuss-free one-pot style cooking, saves time
  • Great for batch-cooking
  • Ideal for busy mid-week meals
  • Easy to please fussy eaters!
  • Just combine with bread, various toppings and add an extra dash of something special
  • Add lentils to bulk out soups and stews

This recipe is created by Chef Annie James at Sunrise of Tettenhall for Sunrise Senior Living who make sure that all of their recipes are nutritious and tasty, making them great for everyone, not just the elderly. Of the many recipe options, they sent me I choose to make this one because I simply adored red lentils as those who read my blog will know. The buttery aroma of onions sauteing which filled my kitchen was simply amazing and very satisfying. Needless to say, the soup went down and treat and even normally fussy hubster greedily licked his bowl clean – no better compliment than that folks isn’t it? I must admit I couldn’t resist adding a bit of my own personal finishing touches as my palate is so used to all the spicy and tangy little add-on’s that I normally use 😉

Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Chef Annie James at Sunrise of Tettenhall for Sunrise Senior Living
Hearty and delicious Butternut squash soup with added protien and taste with quick cooking red lentils
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 25 minutes mins
Course Soup
Cuisine Fusion
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • Saucepan

Ingredients
  

  • 400 ml vegetable stock
  • 150 gms Butternut Squash – peeled and diced into bite-sized bits
  • 60 gms Dried red lentil i.e. masoor dal – split without skin
  • 3 Carrots – peeled and diced into small bits
  • 2 Red onion – peeled and chopped fine
  • 12 gms Unsalted butter
  • Sea salt with a hint of garlic
  • Freshly cracked black pepper
  • A small quantity of fresh coriander to garnish

Instructions
 

  • In a large saucepan or stockpot melt the butter on a medium flame
  • Sauté’ the finely chopped onions in the butter for just under 4- 5 minutes till they turn a beautiful golden-brown colour and reduce
  • Then add in the chopped carrots, squash, and sauté’ for a further 2- 3 minutes.
  • Now stir in the vegetable stock and the red lentils
  • Reduce to a low flame and let the soup simmer gently
  • Cook until the vegetables and lentils are tender
  • Allow the soup to cool down to room temperature, then using a hand blender puree’ until smooth, or as I did, give it a whizz in your food processor
  • Season with sea salt with garlic or plain sea salt and add a generous sprinkling of freshly cracked black pepper
  • Garnish with just a small amount of finely chopped fresh coriander
  • Serve hot ideally with a slice of warm crusty bread with a dollop of butter. If your conscience allows it stir in a small amount of fresh cream into the soup or smother your crusty bread with some freshly made garlic butter
Keyword Butternut Squash Soup

Looking for easy to make, delicious Soup and Stew recipes? Why not browse through some of my easy to follow recipes:

  • Creamy celeriac and smoked red pepper soup
  • Clear Vegetable soup – Fusion recipe with an Indian twist
  • Red Lentil Soup
  • Tomato and Lentil soupy broth
  • Chinese chicken noodle soup
  • BBQ Pulled Pork and aromatic noodle soup

*With thanks to Sunrise Senior Living and the  PR team for reimbursing the expense for ingredients. No monetary compensation was offered for a positive review. As always all opinions expressed here are entirely my own. 

Filed Under: Food, Healthy, Recipe Index, Vegetarian Tagged With: Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup, Chef Annie James at Sunrise of Tettenhall for Sunrise Senior Living, chop, crusty bread, dice, easy and quick soup recipe, eat well for less, food blog, food blogger, Food Photography, Food Processor, food styling, food writer, foodie in London, garlic butter, garlic salt, garnish, hand blender, Healthy recipes, healthy soup recipes, how to stay healthy and positive, lifestyle blogger, live healthy, Manjiri Chitnis, Manjiri Kulkarni, masoorachi dal, peel, Red Lentils, red onions, reviews from travelsfortaste blog, saute, slice of my life, sliceoffme, sliceoffme recipes, small changes for a better life, sprinkle, squash, start small, think healthy, travel blogger, travel writer, travelsfortaste, unsalted butter, vegetarian recipe, vegetarian soup recipe, weight loss recipes, whiz

Key Lime Pie

June 29, 2013 by manjirichitnis 4 Comments

Calling all DEXTER Fans!

Key Lime Pie – or one of Dexter ”victims” last meal, (who wanted to be a well ”victim”, if you watch Dexter as obsessively as I do, you will know! Season 3 episode 8 – Easy as Pie)

Well, this popular American Dessert is very easy to make and a delicious dessert option to serve. Recipe adapted from Martha Stewarts’ recipe for homemade Key Lime Pie and from BBC Good Food.

Key Limes get their name from the association with the Florida Keys and because they are the main ingredients in well, Key Lime Pie! I have used the darker green skinned limes and they give that – much required and tangy citrus taste to the pie.

Ingredients:(Serves 8)

  1. 300gm HobNobs (hob-nobs are the U.K version of the U.S Graham Crackers, use any biscuit/ cracker that will give you a good crumbly base)
  2. 150gm unsalted butter melted and cooled
  3. One 397gm tin of  condensed milk
  4. Four egg yolks
  5. Zest and juice of 4 limes

Method:

  • Put the hobnobs into a thick, strong, food-grade plastic bag and give them a good bashing, what fun, totally de-stressing! Or if you are less violent and do not watch Dexter then please use a food processor.
  • Mix these beautiful crumbs with the soft melted and cooled butter in a bowl, my big orange plastic bowl is so good for this (for a quick peek at the bowl check out my post about cookies and headache ok well just cookies tehehehe)
  • Firmly pat onto a tart tin 22 cm is what I have, I used a thick white ceramic pie pan which I purchased earlier on in the day and ended buying a gorgeous Brita Water Filter with it too, I love low price deals and my old water filter jug needed to be chucked!
  • Bake the base for 10 minutes in a pre heated oven at 160C/fan 140C/gas 3
  • Then separate the 4 egg yolks from the whites and add the entire tin of condensed milk, whisk for about 3  minutes , good if you have an electric whisk , I was making this pie at an obscenely late hour in the night and didn’t dare use my electric whisk ;), so had to mix really well for about 5 minutes.
  • Zest the limes so that some of the zest can go into the mix and some can be used to dress the pie
  • Now add the juice of the limes and some of the zest into the egg & condensed milk mix and whisk for another 3 minutes.
  • Pour onto the cooled base and bake for another 10 minutes.
  • Cool completely on a wire rack and then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
  • Dress the pie with some more lime zest, I didn’t want to do the whipped cream bit on the top but ended up using the ready made squeezy ready to use cream from a can, it sits very quickly and if you do not consume immediately it will form a puddle on the top so please avoid !

This is a wonderfull dessert to be shared with friends and family and is apt for weekend meals, make ahead and refrigerate.Great for summers!

Key Lime Pie n some pine cones
Key Lime Pie dug in
Oh so good ...ummlicious

Looking for more inspiration to indulge your sweet-tooth? Why not browse through my dessert recipes:

  • Cinnamon Pecan GF cake
  • Chocolate coconut cake with coconut icing
  • Easy chocolate cake with chocolate icing
  • POSH Victoria sponge cake

Filed Under: Desserts, Food, Recipe Index Tagged With: American Desserts, an american life, bake, BBC Good Food Guide, Condensed Milk, cool, Crime Drama, delicious, desserts for the weekend, Dexter, Dexter and Rita, double cream, easy dessert, eat well, family favourite recipes, Florida Keys, food bloggers, HobNobs, Key Lime Pie, lemon zest, limes, Martha Stewart recipes, Nestle, oven, overnight, quick and easy summer desserts, ready in 25 minutes, sugar, summer dessert recipe, unsalted butter, whipped cream

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