Warming Up

It was a cold day in New York today. This was only compounded by the fact that my office has yet to turn off the air conditioning. So, I spent most of the day shivering and all I wanted was something to warm me up.

So, I made a vat full of spaghetti squash soup. It was thick and satisfying. I toasted some cheese bread to add a necessary crunch to the meal.

I owe all credit to Jamie Oliver. I'm including the recipe below for you to enjoy. It's a lot of chopping, but it's so worth it! This recipe makes loads of soup - so you can freeze the leftovers for an easy meal on another day.

Superb Squash Soup

Recipe excerpted from Jamie at Home by Jamie Oliver.

Ingredients

Olive oil

16 fresh sage leaves

2 red onions, peeled and chopped

2 sticks celery, trimmed and chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked

1/2 fresh red chile, to taste, seeded and finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 1/4 pounds squash halved, deseeded and cut into chunks

2 quarts good-quality Chicken or vegetable stock

Extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Put a very large saucepan on a medium heat and pour in a couple of glugs of olive oil. Add the sage leaves and fry for around 30 seconds or until dark green and crisp. Quickly remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl lined with paper towels - you'll use these for sprinkling over at the end. In the pan you'll be left with a beautifully flavored oil, so put it back on the heat and throw in your onion, celery, carrot, garlic, rosemary leaves, chile and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook gently for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are sweet and soft. Add the squash and the stock to the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for around 30 minutes.