Roast butternut squash soup with Saint Agur and sage
A good soup should be like a warm embrace – and this one really is. Bringing together the sweetness of butternut squash, the savoury umami of sage, and the rich, creamy tang of Saint Agur Blue Cheese, it is complex without being challenging, and simple while feeling indulgent.
Prep 30 min
Cook 50 min
Serves 4
For the soup
1 large butternut squash, about 1kg, peeled, deseeded and diced into 2cm cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
20g salted butter
6 sage leaves, finely sliced
1 litre vegetable stock
80g Saint Agur Blue Cheese
1 tbsp cream cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
To garnish
Seeds from the squash, washed and dried
8 sage leaves
70g Saint Agur Blue Cheese
Olive oil
Heat the oven to 200c (180c fan)/ gas 6. Place the butternut squash on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Cook for 25 minutes, or until soft.
Next, put the squash seeds for the garnish on a baking tray. Drizzle with two teaspoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 10-15 minutes, until they pop. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Tip in the onions and cook gently for 10 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and sage and cook for a further two minutes before adding the roast squash and 750ml of the vegetable stock. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to a food processor with the 80g of Saint Agur Blue Cheese and the cream cheese, and blend until smooth (you can also do this using a stick blender). Add the remaining stock a ladle at a time to get to your preferred thickness. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
For the sage leaf garnish, heat three tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat, and lightly fry the leaves until they are crispy. Drain on kitchen paper.
To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with crumbled Saint Agur Blue Cheese, crispy sage leaves, roasted seeds and a drizzle of the oil from the sage pan. Serve with chunks of bread and lashings of butter!
