Everyone will tell you that there is nothing better to “combat” the winter cold than a steamy, hot cup or bowl of soup. South Africans are renowned for their love of soup and their creativity when it comes to preparing some of the best soups around. Come to think of it – we never had real delicacies such as mushroom or butternut soup in our teenage years.
When I was a young boy, we had the ever-popular bean soup on the table several times throughout the long and hard winter months. But being a boy in his early teens the winter really wasn’t a problem and we didn’t really care for bean soup. It was only much later in my life that I realized that good old “South African soup” has become just as much tradition as biltong and droë wors…
Earlier this week Rustenburg Herald were the guests of the well-known Professional Cooking Academy where Lizelle van der Walt showed us to cook up a great bowl of Butternut soup served with a selection of freshly baked bread.
Lizelle made it this way:
Ingredients:
1 kg butternut, cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 red onion
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 red chilli
800ml vegetable stock
4tbsp cream
Method:
Heat oven to 200 °C, roast butternut in the oven till golden and soft.
While the butternut cooks, melt the butter with the 1 tbsp of olive oil, add the onion, garlic and chili.
Cover and cook on a very low heat for 15-20 minutes until onions are completely soft.
Remove the butternut from the oven, tip into the pot, add the stock and cream, then blend with a stick blender until smooth.
Gently re-heat, adjust the consistency, season to taste.
Serve with a dash of cream and chopped chili.
