Root Vegetable and Squash Soup with Avoca Cheese Soda Bread

Through it's cafes, markets and cookbooks, Avoca has lead a revolution in Irish food in recent years. The company champions seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients and showcases them in a modern but accessible way. As such they are one of my favourites. They also provide a great stage for artisan food producers based in Ireland as well as promoting craft butchery and free-range meats.

This recipe idea was born out of the most traditional and most basic of Irish comfort food - vegetable soup. Given an updated flavor profile and paired with Avoca Cheese Soda Bread it reminds me that sometimes February can feel good!

Soup

ingredients:

• 1 large white onion, sliced
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks celery, chopped
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 180g orange lentils (rinse them really well)
• Half a butternut squash, chopped
• 30g butter
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• Half a chilli (de-seeding will lessen heat if you prefer)
• A half inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• A few fresh thyme flowers
• Cream to add at the end if you wish

After all the assembly of the ingredients is done, it's pretty easy. Sautee the onions and celery in the butter until translucent, then add the vegetables. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about another 5-10 minutes. You don't want to colour any of the vegetables.  This creates a flavour in the soup that just boiling alone cannot do. Once this is done you can add the rest of the ingredients and simmer in the stock for about 30 minutes or until all the vegetables are soft. Then blend to your desired consistency.

Cheese Soda Bread

ingredients:

• 454g plain flour
• 1 level teaspoon bread soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 100g grated mature cheddar
• About 500mls buttermilk 

Pre-heat oven to 180 C and line an oiled loaf tin with baking parchment. Sieve dry ingredients into large bowl, then add cheese and buttermilk to texture. The amount of buttermilk used will depend on the dryness of the flour used. As a guideline, the mixture should be wet but not runny.Mix ingredients - no kneading, and pop into the loaf tin. Flatten out the top of the bread and run a knife down the centre of the top of the bread. This will help it to rise evenly. Do not ever overly mix a soda bread recipe and always get it into the oven quickly, otherwise your bread will be dense. The bread needs to bake for 40 minutes before taking it out and removing it from the tin. Then put it back into the oven until a metal skewer comes out clean.