Roasted Butternut Squash Soup / Butternut squash zuppa

Method

Turn the oven on and set to gas mark 6, electric 200°C (Fan oven 180°C).
1. Depending on the number of butternut squash chunks you have you’ll need two or three roasting pans. Pour some olive oil into the pans to cover the bottom and add a little salt into the roasting pans. Add the chunks, the onions and the unpeeled garlic (unpeeled because they will not burn in the hot oven). Add a little more salt, then pepper, fennel seeds and oregano and stir so that all the vegetables have seeds and oil stuck to them.
2. Put the pans into the oven and cook for 25 minutes. Take the pans out of the oven and test for tenderness with a fork. The vegetables should be starting to soften so stir them thoroughly and return them to the oven. Continue cooking the for a further 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and test for softness.
3. Meanwhile, towards the end of the roasting time, if using vegetable gel pots put it into a large saucepan, add 1½ litres of boiling water. Return to the boil, stirring often, and lower to a simmer.
4. Remove the garlic from the pans, cut open and remove the flesh. Return the garlic flesh to the pans and mix well. Store the pans in a warmed oven.
5. In batches, place the vegetables and their juices from the roasting dish into a blender and blitz for 30 seconds. Add a little stock as required if it is too thick. Blitz again for 30 seconds.
6. Taste and season with a little more salt and pepper if needed.
7. Pour the pureed soup through a fine sieve into a casserole bowl.
8. Place the vegetarian ricotta cheese in a small bowl. Add the milk and stir it through thoroughly with a fork until there are no lumps. Pour the mixture into the casserole bowl and mix thoroughly with the soup. If required stir in 2 or 3 ladles of stock to thin it down.
9. Put the casserole dish with its lid in the oven set at gas mark 4, electric 180°C (Fan oven 160°) and warm it through for about 10 minutes.
10. Serve into warmed bowls and sprinkle some butternut squash seeds into the middle.
11. The soup flavour will be enhanced if covered, kept overnight in a fridge and eaten warm the following day.
Note: How to roast squash seeds:
12. Separate the seeds from the pulp while it’s all still wet. Once the pulp and the seeds dry, it’s more difficult to separate them.
13. Rinse the pumpkin seeds under cold water in a colander to remove any remaining pulp stuck to them.
14. Toss the seeds in a small amount of olive oil.
15. Sprinkle with salt or other seasonings.
16. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminium foil.
17. Spread the seeds over the covered baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit, 170°C, gas mark 3 for 25 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.
18. Allow to cool.