A cup full of sunshine

Actually, I think it looks more like an egg yolk surrounded by the white of the mug in the above picture. But that's a loooong post title.

A weekend trip to York for a christening meant we only returned to Ireland very, very late last night. After sleeping in and still feeling groggy, a trudge to the shops for supplies wasn't really on the cards, so I had to russle something up for lunch from whatever I could find lying around - preferably something that didn't require a lot of effort.

Which led to...

Garlicky butternut squash soup, adapted from Soup Kitchen

You'll need:

1 butternut squash

2 or more unpeeled cloves of garlic (I used 5, but it depends how garlicky you want to go)

Some olive oil

1 pint of veggie stock

Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/ gas mark 6. Slice the butternut squash into segments and place them in a roasting tin, along with at least two cloves of garlic (or more to taste.)

2. Toss the squash and garlic with some olive oil and then put the tin in the oven for about 40 minutes, until the squash is soft and browned around the edges.

3. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit.

4. Scoop out the squash flesh, pop the garlic cloves out of their skins and add them to a blender, along with the pint of veggie stock. Blitz.

5. Adjust the seasoning to taste and reheat the soup if necessary.

6. Serve.