I love this bright orange soup. A little bit of spice to keep you warm, good autumnal  chunky veg and a few lovely soft butter beans. Mmm, it’s like a cosy duvet. This is the basic recipe, but if you have any other nice bright coloured autumn veg lying around spare, no harm throwing them in too.

This recipe has tinned butter beans in. Generally I prefer dried beans. I find they usually have better texture than the canned ones. Butter beans are, I think, the exception to the rule though and I actually prefer them. I’ve been getting the Suma ones which have been really big and tasty. When I’ve used dried ones before they didn’t end up with the nice soft texture that these have, plus it obviously takes more time and planning. But each to their own.

When I made this soup I also intended to make some soda bread, but then realised we didn’t have any wholemeal flour. I ended up using stone ground white flour and mixing in a bit of oatmeal. I turned out ok. Not as nice as real soda bread I’ve had before, maybe a little heavy, but definitely a good quick substitute if you’ve not got the right stuff in. It takes all of about 2 minutes to make too, which for bread is pretty incredible.

Spicy Butternut & Butter Bean Soup

• 1 oz butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 fairly chunky butternut squash, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
• 2 big sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 or 2 red chilis (how hot do you like it?), finely chopped
• 2 cans of butterbeans, drained
• 1 1/2 pints of stock
• S+P
• 5 tbsp chopped coriander plus extra for garnish

1. Melt the butter in a big soup pan, then add the onions and galic and fry gently over a low heat for 15 minutes or so until the onions are soft and golden, but not browned.
2. Add the chilli and fry for a couple of minutes before adding all the rest of the chopped veg (but not the beans!). Stir round to coat a little, then cover and leave to sweat for 10 minutes.
3. Cover with hot stock, bring to the boil then simmer for around 15-20 minutes or until the veg are tender.
4. Puree the soup, season and add the tins of beans and chopped corriander.
5. Return to the heat and simmer for around 8 more minutes to allow the beans to warm through and take on the flavour of the soup.
6. Serve garnished with a little chopped coriander.

“I can’t believe it’s not soda bread!”

• 300g self raising flour
• 100g oatmeal
• 1 tsp salt
• 120ml milk
• 120ml yoghurt

1. Preheat the oven to 200C
2. Put the flour and oatmeal and salt in a bowl and mix together.
3. Mix the yoghurt and milk together, then pour intot he flour mix and stir it all together with a wooden spoon.
4. Kneed briefly then shape into a round, pat it down to about 5 cm thick, put a light dusting of flour all over then place on a baking tray.
5. Cut a cross in the top of the bread, almost all the way through, then pop in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until beginning to brown. Check it’s cooked through before serving.