Spiced Butternut Squash Soup with chickpea pancakes

This is comfort food at it's finest. Warming and creamy - the chick pea pancakes work wonderfully well. Dunk away!

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

2 oz butter

1 large onion, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large butternut squash

1 tablespoon of minced fresh ginger root

1 cup of milk (or cream if you are feeling wicked)

5 cups of chicken stock (Kallo do a wonderful GF stock cube)

2 good pinches of all spice

Sea salt

Freshly Ground Pepper

dried mashed potato mix to thicken

Slice the squash lengthways. Oil a high sided cooking tray with olive oil and place both sides of squash, flesh down onto the tray. Cook for 45 minutes in the centre of a 200 degree oven.

While this is cooking, sautee the onion, ginger and garlic in the butter.

Add the broth and simmer for 10 minutes.

Once the squash has cooked, scoop out the seeds and discard. Scoop out the soft flesh and add to broth.

With a blending wand, blend together the squash and broth, until smooth. Ticken with mashed potato powder to your own requirements.

Season with the salt, pepper and the allspice.

Chickpea pancakes

8oz Gram (chickpea flour)

1 teaspoon sea salt, crushed

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

14 fluid oz water

vegetable oil for frying

Sift the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the water. With a whisk, combine the water and flour mix until you acheive a smooth batter.

Leave to stand for 15 minutes.

Heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan. Over a medium heat, pour a small quantity of batter into the pan. Make them any size that you prefer. I make mine on the small side.

Cook on once side for 3 minutes. With a spatula or pallette knife, turn the pancake and cook the other side until golden.

Continue until all of the batter is used.

Recipe notes:

You can replace the allspice in the soup with cinnamon - delicious. Dunk the pancakes into the soup for the real comfort food experience. The pancakes can be eaten alone as a snack, spread with peanut butter or cream cheese and chives.