Rachel Khoo: Souped up

This week's recipe is crammed with seasonal, nutritious spice.

Get your vitamins with a medley of vegetables and a spicy sauce made with chilli, ginger and garlic, all of which are excellent digestive stimulants. A traditional southern French pistou soup uses pasta pieces tossed in at the end, but I’ve replaced them with butternut cubes for a carb-free alternative.

Autumnal pistou soup

Serves 4

4 cloves of garlic, finely grated

1 large red onion, finely grated

1 thumb-size piece of ginger, grated

2 tbsp olive oil

3 sprigs of thyme

1 sprig of rosemary

3 bay leaves

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into ½cm cubes

200g butternut squash, peeled and cut into ½cm cubes

1 yellow courgette, cored and cut into ½cm cubes

1 green courgette, cored and cut into ½cm cubes

1¼ litres boiling water

½ organic vegetable stock cube

2 pinches of sugar

For the pistou sauce

1 mild red chilli*, deseeded and finely chopped

1 bunch of parsley (leaves only), finely chopped

8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

6 tbsp white wine vinegar

Pinch of salt

Set aside 1 tsp of the garlic, 2 tbsp of the onion and ½ tsp of the ginger to make the pistou sauce. In a large frying pan add the rest of the garlic, onion and ginger with the olive oil, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. Fry for 5 minutes on a medium heat before adding the carrot and squash. Fry for a further 5 minutes. Stir in the courgettes and add the water with the dissolved stock cube and sugar. Simmer the vegetables uncovered for 10 minutes or until al dente. To make the pistou sauce, mix the reserved garlic, onion and ginger with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Remove the herbs and bay leaves from the soup. Taste for seasoning. Serve with the sauce.

*If you’re using a very spicy chilli, you may want to add less.