Spicy peanut & butternut squash soup

Ingredients 1 butternut squash, 1 tablespoon peanut butter (I like Whole Earth Foods), 1/2 pint vegetable stock, chilli flakes

Serves: 2 preparation: 35 minutes

I love soup. I find all the chopping, stirring and pureeing very soothing, the warm smells that fill the house comforting, and I love ladling out steamy bowls of soup for people to dunk hot crispy bread into, dressing it with ever more creative croutons or swirls of cream and yoghurt. This soup is velvet smooth, voluptuously thick and has a fabulous kick of chilli and savoury peanut butter to match the clean sweetness of the butternut squash.

1) Peel and the butternut squash, discard the seeds and cut into chunks. Roast in the oven in a covered dish at 200 degrees for 25 minutes.

2) Strain the butternut squash (do not discard the juice) and pulse thoroughly in a blender. Add the pureed butternut squash and juice into the vegetable stock along with the peanut butter and summer for 5 minutes.

3) Season with salt, black pepper and chilli flakes before serving.