Orange and Green Soup

Is definitely/maybe on the Halloween menu this year.  It was inspired (if you can call it that!) by the leftover butternut squash necks, a lonely carrot and two sweet potatoes that had, quite honestly, seen better days!  I sauteed one finely chopped onion, added my pealed and chopped motley crew of orange vegetables, half a dozen new potatoes (peeled and diced), a vegetable stock cube and enough water to cover.  I seasoned it, added  a good handful of fresh thyme (also a leftover) and a slug of white wine for good measure!  Brought to the boil, the heat was reduced to a simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the vegetables were soft.  I then blended the soup until smooth.  Orange soup. 

The green soup is technically a puree.  One cup of frozen peas and one cup of chopped french beans were added to slightly salted, lightly boiling water and cooked until tender. They were drained and the water retained.  Returned to the pan, I added a small knob of margarine and blended them to a medium-coarse puree.  This was then thinned to approximately half it's original density by adding the retained cooking water a tbsp at a time and blending further.  Green soup puree.

And serve.  Orange soup first, followed by three-four dessert spoons of green soup on top; rather like you would add cream or creme fraiche.  I wanted to then stir the two together, marbling them, but my two wanted to do that themselves, so I seasoned with more pepper and served with buttered soda bread.

We loved the combination of sweet and savoury and the contrasting textures.  For a last minute throw together, this soup was a real treat.  I'm tempted to thin the green puree further, till is is more of a soup consistency and then serve it layered on top of the orange soup.  Certainly going to play with ideas for it for Halloween.