Recipe: Creamy Moroccan style butternut squash soup

One of my favourite things to make in the Autumn/Winter months is soup. This recipe is one of my favourites - affordable, different and delicious (if I do say so myself!). Adapted from my first butternut squash soup recipe, I've altered the ingredients slightly to make the flavour a lot more north African by adding harissa, goats cheese, coconut milk, curry powder and some other spices. This soup makes a delicious lunch and should keep for about a week in an airtight container in the fridge.

This recipe makes around 4 to 5 bowls.

Ingredients:
1 whole butternut squash (skinless, roughly cut into 2cm cubes)
1 whole red pepper (deseeded and roughly chopped)
1 whole red onion (roughly chopped)
2 teaspoons of ginger paste
2 cloves of garlic crushed
100g of goat's cheese
500ml of chicken stock (a stock cube + water is fine)
Olive oil
1 teaspoon of harissa paste
1 teaspoon of clear honey
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of curry powder
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon of crushed chilli flakes
2/3 a can of coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Put squash, pepper and onions into large roasting tin and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Toss to all vegetables are coated.
2. Add garlic, ginger, harissa, honey, lemon juice, curry powder, chilli powder and flakes. Season with salt and pepper to taste (you can always add some more later). Toss veg again to seasoning is evenly distributed.
3. Put into the oven on a medium to high heat until squash is soft. In my oven this took around 40 mins, but keep an eye on it. It doesn't matter if your peppers and onions are slightly charred at the edges!
4. Remove roasting tin from oven and transfer contents into large saucepan if you have a handheld blender like me (put it straight into a free standing blender if you have one).
5. Roughly blitz veg to get it started, then add stock and blend again.
6. Crumble in the goat's cheese stirring it through to ensure it melts. Blend again.
7. Then add coconut milk and blend for the final time until consistency is smooth and silky.Taste, and add extra seasoning if it needs it.
8. Reheat if required and serve with a warm flatbread.

Urban Food Fest - Shoreditch

I only really ever started to appreciate how good street food can be when I was working for Sainsbury's Magazine in Farringdon. Before then, if you said street food, I would immediately think of the dirty burger vans my hometown had to offer. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing awful about the greasy grub served by 'Dave's Tasty Bites' and 'Nice Buns' (yes, it really is called that) but street food has come along way from plasticy cheese, stale burger buns and sticky ketchup bottles. Believe it or not, some of London's most loved restaurants started off as street food stalls (Pizza Pilgrims - we salute you and your van-come-pizza oven).

The Sainsbury's Magazine offices were a stones throw away from some of London's best street food haunts. Leather Lane and Exmouth Market are streets lined both sides with culinary expertise from all over the world and all from the back of a van - who'd have thought it?! Leather Lane has it all, from authentic burritos at Daddy Donkey to fantastic falafel wraps at Greek Expectations ('Nice Buns' take note - 'Greek Expectations' = jokey name done right). Food from the vendors at Leather Lane and Exmouth Market win my vote over a Tesco meal deal any day - and not to mention there is the occasional stall selling 'discounted' Topshop clothes (which may or may not have been nicked off the back of a lorry).

Last week my boyfriend (who is currently living in France) came back to England for a week. One of our favourite things to do is eat, especially gourmet fast food. I'd read about the Urban Food Fest in Time Out and knew we had to visit. Located in a Shoreditch car park, the festival opens at 5pm every Saturday and closes at midnight. There are a number of Street Food vendors, live music and even cocktails bars. Louis and I both shared a hot dog, with ALL the trimmings, some 'don fries' (chips covered in cheese and Vietnamese pork) and an amazing gin and elderflower cocktail. The place was packed and the atmosphere was great, my only criticism is that we did struggle to find a seat! Each dish is normally between 4 and 7 pounds and everything is made right in front of you.

The food was delish and there was plenty of choice. Where else can you get a Perurvian burger and an authentic Italian stonebaked pizza at the same time?!