Carrot, Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

A wonderful light winter warmer, full of veggies to fight off those winter colds.

Ingredients
makes 6 to 8 portions
a pinch of saffron
3 bay leaves
5 medium to large carrots
3 medium sweet potatoes
1 small butternut squash
2 medium or 1 large red onion
2 leeks
3 large cloves of garlic
1 teaspoons of table salt
1 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 teaspoons of ground coriander
1 teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika
2 tablespoons of coconut oil (or butter if it doesn't need to be dairy free)

Method

1. First, soak the bay leaves and saffron in 300ml of boiling water.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Peal the carrots, sweet potatoes and butternut squash and remove the skins from the onions and garlic. Cut the butternut squash in half and remove the seeds using a metal spoon. Removing the ends, roughly slice the carrots, sweet potatoes and squash into 2 to 3 cm chunks and the onions, garlic and leeks about 0.5 to 1 cm slices. 
3. In a large sauce pan, warm the spices and salt in the coconut oil while it melts. Add the onions and leeks then fry on a low heat until they soften. This should take 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the bay leaves and saffron in their infused water.
4.  Add the chopped vegetables and cover 2/3rds of them with cold water. Leave on a medium to low heat for 2 to 3 hours with the lid on.
5. Remove from the heat and use a potato masher to break up the veggies. Then using a blender, liquefy them into a smooth soup. Season to taste.

Serving suggestions

Serve with fresh bread and crumbled Wensleydale or Stilton cheese.

This can also be used as a pasta sauce. Just add in 6 portions of fresh pasta once liquefied and continue to boil for about 5 to 6 minutes or until the pasta is cooked. Serve topped with rocket, crispy pancetta and shaved parmesan.

Love, Hattie x