On Halloween we like to dress up, change ourselves. On All Hallows’ Eve, we become different people. Even just for one night. It’s fun and often, cathartic. But what about food? We all have recipes that we trust. Familiar flavours. And very often we stick to them religiously. For us, Halloween is the time of the year when we experiment. We take comfort foods of our past and turn them into something new. With the easiest way possible. Change one ingredient. Think about it. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just think outside the box. Get inspired by the ingredients themselves.
Our inspiration for this year is our limited edition apple oil. Its complex flavour will change completely a comforting squash soup. Olives, apples, walnuts, cinnamon, honey, lemon and sage are all crushed together to create it. It is not your ordinary infused oil.
Follow our recipe for the warm squash soup:
For a large pot of soup (feeds 5 or 7 really hungry people)
1.5kg pumpkin (or squash)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small white onion
1 small red onion
1 piece of ginger, the size of your two thumbs together
1 red chilli
1-2 tsp of mixed spices (we used coriander, cumin, turmeric, caraway)
Salt to taste
1-1.5l vegetable stock
Apple Oil (to serve)
Greek yoghurt (to serve, optional)
Cut the squash in wedges or in half and roast it in the oven, at 200C, drizzled with olive oil and a bit of salt, until the flesh is tender, around 40 minutes. Scoop out all the flesh (You can skip this last step if you want).
Peel and roughly chop the onions, ginger, chilli. In a large pot pour some olive oil and gently fry them. Add the spices and stir. Add the squash and stir again so that everything comes together. Pour 1lt of stock and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and let the soup simmer, so that the aromas blend and the squash is completely soft, around 30-45 minutes. Transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth. Return to pot and if needed add more stock, salt, spices.
And now for the metamorphosis.
Serve the soup with Greek yogurt and drizzle our limited edition apple oil. The soup is spicy and sweet, warm and comforting. The yogurt adds the much needed tanginess and freshness. And the apple oil, oh with its sweet aromas of the semi-ripe Koroneiki olives, apples, honey and cinnamon and the nuttiness from the walnuts and sage. You’re in for a treat!
