Butternut Squash & Orange Soup

Home owners are very familiar with this concept: something in the house is always broken.

A few days ago I walked into my bathroom and immediately my eyes were drawn to the corner of the wooden bath panel. There it was, a newly gnawed hole with freshly chewed carpet scattered around for decoration. As the Teletubbies would say: EH-OH. Immediately, I jumped on the phone to Neil to tell him about my suspicion of a mouse in the house.

The more I thought about it, the more unlikely it seemed. Wouldn’t a mouse start at the bottom of the house? Then it suddenly all made sense. It’s the bloody squirrels again. A year ago we thought we got rid of them for good by getting an exterminator but this year they came back with a vengeance and already wrote off the garage lights’ wiring. We thought we caught them all a few weeks ago but they are getting in another way.

After all the problems these vermin have caused us, I have nothing but red-hot hatred for them. If I could eradicate every single fluffy, overgrown rat off this planet I would. The damage repairs already cost a fortune and there is no peace of mind to be found after the remedial work has been done because you never know whether they will come back and cause more havoc…

What a hateful person I must be, you might think. But I didn’t always feel the same about them. In fact, I loved them and the highlight of every trip to Cape Town was to go to Die Tuine (The Gardens) and feed the squirrels. Don’t believe me? See Exhibit A taken December 1986.

But that could be any little girl. Okay, here’s another one.

Yep, that’s me, knickers and all. (The finishing school knew a lost cause when it saw one and I never got past the application stage.)

By the way, the story has got nothing to do with the soup. It tastes good though. Maybe I should add some vodka to it to drown my sorrows…

Download and/or print the recipe! Click HERE.

Butternut Squash & Orange Soup
Serves 4
Preparation: 30 mins – Cooking Time: 40 mins
Ingredients
  • 45ml (3 tbsp) butter
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 medium potatoes, diced
  • 750g (1½ lbs) butternut, peeled, seeded and diced
  • peel of ½ orange
  • 750ml (3 cups) chicken or vegetable stock
  • 65ml (¼ cup) orange juice
  • pinch ground cinnamon
  • 125ml (½ cup) double cream [optional]
  • salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
  1. Melt butter and sauté onions for about 1 minute.
  2. Add the vegetables, orange peel, stock and orange juice and bring to the boil.
  3. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until vegetables are soft.
  4. Transfer to a blender or food processor and work until fairly smooth.
  5. Return to the pan and add cinnamon, cream and seasoning.
  6. Slowly bring to boil, reduce until heated through, a few minutes. Add a swirl of cream to each dish, if desired, and serve immediately.
Serving Suggestion
  • Serve with fresh whole wheat bread slathered with butter.

Related Posts

  1. Simple Butternut Squash Soup
  2. Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
  3. Baked Kabocha Squash & Butter Bean Soup
7 Responses to “Butternut Squash & Orange Soup”

  1. Gorgeous colours the blue background really brings out the colour soup which looks dreamy.

    by wizzythestick
    on 28. Jan, 2010

  2. Oh yum! One of my favourite soups from Woolies (in SA) was their butternut & orange soup, but alas, M&S doesn’t do the same soup here in Ireland :( (The Irish don’t know what they’re missing out on)
    I’ll have to give this a try :)

    by MandyM
    on 28. Jan, 2010

  3. Thanks, Wizzy!

    MandyM: I’ve only ever seen butternut and orange soup on South African restaurant menus. Never tries Woolies’ version but I’m sure it must have been gorgeous. The Brits also don’t know what to do with pumpkins. Some of them have bad experiences and they never it again. If only they had someone to prepare it properly for them. ;-)

    by Michelle
    on 31. Jan, 2010

  4. delicious soup, really creamy and so easy to make. I served it up with crusty homemade bread..m’m m’m

    by pami
    on 12. Feb, 2010

  5. Pami: I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the feedback! :-)

    by Michelle
    on 13. Feb, 2010

  6. This is just the recipe I was looking for. Try putting halved apples in your garden for the squirrels to chew on. We had them tapping on our door for more. They never bothered with the house as there was food outside for them to eat. I go into Kew Gardens every weekend to get my dose of Squirrels, ducks and swans. Love the story and look forward to hearing how the apples go. Email me the next sequel. XXX

    by Lee
    on 12. Jun, 2010

  7. Lee: We assumed wrongly and it ended up being rats – ick!

    http://www.greedygourmet.com/2010/04/19/beef-broccoli-cashew-nut-stir-fry/

    I’m not sure about trying the apples though because our neighbours on both sides have a habit of putting food out for the wildlife which I’m sure attracts the critters closer to the house in the first place. I wish I can love them again but at this stage I’m fed up!

    by Michelle
    on 13. Jun, 2010

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