I am well aware, dear readers, that after my entry on best risotto recipes a couple of weeks ago, some of you fellow foodies out there have since been constantly plagued by the ever-present thought: "but whatever happened to the other half of that butternut squash"?????

Well, people, I will keep you in suspense no longer - I actually made it into soup.

Fried up a small onion in butter, added a couple of pinches of cumin seeds and a few strips of fresh ginger, then added the butternut squash in chunks and sautéed for a few moments. Next I added some hot vegetable stock and a dose more garam masala, brought to the boil, and then allowed to simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes or so till the butternut squash was soft and tender. After allowing it to cool down a bit, I then bunged it in the blender, transferred back into the pan, added a bit of single cream, re-heated and served up with some delicious home-made fresh bread kneaded by my own fair hand (oh alright then, with the couple of manky breadsticks I found hidden somewhere at the back of my store cupboard).

And there you have it folks, curried butternut squash soup - one of my all-time favourite lunchtime bites...