Roast squash and sweet potato soup with buttermilk blue cheese sauce

Ingredients

• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 1 butternut squash, unpeeled, halved, seeds scraped out, sliced into 2.5cm/1in x 2.5cm/1in cubes
• 500g/1lb 2oz sweet potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 2.5cm/1in thick rings
• 60ml/2fl oz olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1.5 litres/2 pints 13fl oz vegetable stock
• 125ml/4oz marsala wine
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the buttermilk cheese sauce

• 125g/4oz blue cheese, crumbled
• 250ml/9fl oz buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

2. Place the onion, chopped butternut squash and sweet potato onto a baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with the cinnamon and nutmeg. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, or until tender.

3. Allow the vegetables to cool slightly, then place half into a food processor and add 500ml/17fl oz of the vegetable stock. Blend to a purée and transfer to a large pan. Repeat with the remaining roasted vegetables and 500ml/17fl oz more of the stock - transfer the purée to the pan.

4. Add the remaining 500ml/17fl oz of vegetable stock to the food processor and stir to catch any remnants of the vegetable purée, then pour into the pan.

5. Add the marsala wine and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add a little more water if the soup is too thick for your liking.

6. For the buttermilk cheese sauce, place the blue cheese and buttermilk into a clean food processor and blend to a paste. Transfer the blue cheese sauce to a jug or bowl.

7. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle some of the blue cheese into each bowl. Leave the sauce on the table for your guests to add more if they wish.