The soothing soup: Red bean soup with charred corn, feta and pumpkin seeds

When the skies are grey, this sweet and salty soup will hit the spot. Chuck in whatever spices you fancy – some chilli flakes would be good. Toasted sunflower seeds, almond flakes or even sesame seeds can always be used instead of the pumpkin seeds.

Serves 4
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 tsp paprika
1 cinnamon stick
250g butternut squash
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
300g cooked red kidney beans
600ml vegetable or chicken stock (or water)

To garnish
1 sweetcorn cob (optional)
A handful of pumpkin seeds, toasted
100g feta cheese, crumbled
A handful of coriander, chopped

1 Heat the oil in a large casserole. Add the onion, garlic, cumin, coriander, paprika and cinnamon stick and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes or until the onion and garlic start to caramelise a little.

2 Halve the squash, deseed and thinly slice. Add the squash to the casserole. Cover with the lid and cook on a medium heat for another 10 minutes or so, stirring from time to time.

3 If using sweetcorn, heat a griddle pan and grill the cob on all sides until charred. When cool enough to handle, slice the corn in two, stand each half vertically and slice off the kernels.

4 Add the tomatoes, beans, stock or water to the casserole and season to taste. Cover with the lid, season well and cook for another 15 minutes.

5 Make sure the squash is cooked through and blitz or leave chunky. Garnish with feta, sweetcorn, pumpkin seeds and torn coriander leaves.