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We were entertaining again last night, as Will and Becs came to visit from Walthamstow. An enjoyable evening was had by all, but to push ourselves a little further and divert from our now almost traditional menu of soup, quiche and salad, followed by chocolate mousse (all easy to make and useful if you have a glut of eggs like us), I made a different soup for our starter course.

Like the roasted pepper and tomato soup I made a couple of weeks ago, this one is also packed full of vegetable goodness, and is thick and creamy, thanks to the blended tofu. Not enough people use squashes as they seem to be afraid of them, but the butternut variety gives this recipe a lovely taste and golden colour.

This recipe goes especially well with home-baked crusty bread (but it can be quite filling), and makes four hearty bowlfuls.

Ingredients
1 large onion
200g of carrots
1 butternut squash (approximately 750g to 1kg in weight)
1 slice of root ginger
600ml (1 pint) of vegetable stock
250g tofu (if frozen, defrosted)

Method
Chop the onion roughly, and the carrots and squash into large cubes. Place the onion in a large saucepan or stock pot with a little olive oil, and heat gently until soft or for 10 minutes. Add the carrots, butternut squash, ginger and stock to the pan, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Chop the tofu into rough cubes and add to the vegetable mixture, returning the pan to the boil once more. Once boiled, simmer the mixture for a further 10 minutes. Process the whole mixture through a food processor until smooth and creamy.

Serve into warmed soup bowls, or pour back into the saucepan and leave until ready to eat.  When ready to serve, warm gently, and serve with crusty bread, stirring in a little cream if necessary. Like the roasted pepper and tomato soup, this recipe can be made in batches, bagged, and put into the freezer, providing that the tofu hasn’t been frozen before.

We finally repaid the dinner invitation from August 2007, and had Steven and Anthony round on Saturday evening. Busy in the kitchen on Saturday afternoon, we were pleased with our three-course efforts. We produced a veritable pre-poker and sloe gin feast, serving up the roasted pepper and tomato soup I made a few weeks back for mum and Bart, quiches lorraine and broccoli and cheese (with tomato salad), and chocolate mousse.

Now that we have room in the outhouse to use it, I wanted a bread machine recipe for bread to eat with the soup, but I couldn’t find either the instruction manual or the recipe book that came with it. A few minutes online turned one up, though, and although it wasn’t specifically for our Bifinett KH1171, it was for automatic bread machines, which was good enough.

Making enough for a 750g loaf, the ingredients list below needs fine tuning, as our dough only rose to half the height it should have been (a common error if internet forums are anything to go by). It was tasty nonetheless, and was very dense; fine for soup, but I don’t think it would make a good sandwich.

Ingredients
1 and-a-quarter cups of water
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
3 cups of bread flour (white, granary, or wholemeal)
2 tablespoons of instant dry milk powder
2 teaspoons of bread machine yeast

Method
This will be different for each automatic bread making machine, but our model required the water, salt, sugar, and flour to go in first (in that order), followed by the instant dry milk powder and then finally the yeast. With the browning level set to medium, we left it for just under three hours until the machine had finished its process.

You may find you can tip out the loaf from the tin while still warm, but our paddles wouldn’t release until the dough had cooled, when the job was much easier. So, when cooled, tip out of the loaf tin, and serve immediately. Just as with shop-bought bread, the loaf can be stored in a clipped or tied food bag for three to four days.

The roasted peppers and tomatoes in this hearty soup make you think of butternut squash, but the orange vegetable is not included. Ideal as a starter, the ingredients below make four small servings, so increase the quantities to make larger and more filling bowlfuls.

Ingredients
4 peppers (green, red, or yellow)
525g of tomatoes
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
568ml (1 pint) of vegetable stock
3 tablespoons of half-fat crème fraîche
12 basil leaves
Pepper to taste

Method
Core, de-seed, and halve the peppers. Halve the tomatoes, and arrange the peppers and tomatoes on a baking/grill tray (peppers skin side up, and tomatoes skin side down) and cook under a preheated high grill for around 10 minutes, until the pepper skins are charred. Remove the roasted vegetables from the grill, and put the peppers into a clipped plastic bag and leave to stand for 15 minutes. Leave the tomatoes to cool for the same amount of time.

Peel off the pepper skins by rubbing until all removed, and chop up the flesh. Peel the skins off the tomatoes (which should be easier than the peppers which can take a while, but persevere – it is worth it). Now chop up the onion and carrots.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil and soften the onion and carrot for five minutes. Make the stock as per the instructions on the tub, and add to the pan, along with the roasted peppers and tomatoes. Now reduce the heat and simmer for a further 40 minutes.

If you are making the soup ahead of serving the following day, leave to stand in a covered saucepan. When needed, add all the mixture into a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer back into a large saucepan, and reheat on the hob. Add the crème fraîche and stir through. Season with a little pepper to taste and serve into bowls, adding three leaves of basil for decoration. Serve with crusty French bread, or Italian focaccia.

This soup can also be bagged and frozen to eat later if you have a glut of homegrown ripe tomatoes that you would like to use.