Alphabet Veggie Soup
This lovely soup is not at all like the canned version I ate as a kid: light, fresh and comforting, with no added sugars. For smaller babies I think this would make great purée, just add less stock. I make this with roasted butternut squash, tomato passata, homemade stock and alphabet pasta. But you could add more vegetables too, if you have some to use up.
My little girl loves the little letter pasta shapes and they are a great addition to other dishes too, to keep food fun. This is simple family cooking at its best; you can also freeze any leftovers (just omit the pasta as it doesn't freeze brilliantly).
Recipe makes 900ml ~ 1L of soup
400g butternut squash, peel, remove seeds and cut into cubes
200g carrots, peel, trim and cut into cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
500g organic tomato passata
300ml homemade stock, or no salt stock cube
75g alphabet pasta shapes
Preheat the oven to 180C (fan oven). Take a baking sheet add the butternut squash and carrots (dice them into similar sizes, so they cook evenly). Toss in the olive oil and spread out over the baking sheet: its better to use two trays, if needed, then crowd one tray. Roast for 20-25 minutes until soft and starting to caramelise. Remove from the oven.
In a large pot add the stock, tomato passata and roasted vegetables, bring to a simmer and simmer away for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile cook the mini alphabet shapes, according to the packet instructions.
Finally to assemble the soup, just blend the vegetables/ stock/ passata mix until smooth. You can add more stock until you have a consistency you like. Serve in warm bowls and sprinkle over the alphabet pasta. It is delicious with a little grated Paremsan too for seasoning, but this is absolutely optional.