Chestnut Cream Soup with Mushroom
Chestnut In Season and Out
The scent of roasted chestnuts on winter streets means Christmas is here soon. The vendors fry chestnuts on their little mobile open fire. And we are waiting in a queue for the hot freshly roasted chestnut. I like this period of the year very much.
Chestnuts are harvested middle of September through November. We can prepare chestnut foods out of its season, of course. Nothing is impossible. One of the easiest nut varieties to prepare for storage. In-shell chestnuts retain their quality for a month. Freeze them if you want to store for a long period. My freezer is not big enough to store too many things, I had to find better solution. Most of the time I buy cooked chestnuts, packed in vacuum foil. It doesn’t need fridge or freezer. Easy storage, easy use. I can save time if I buy cooked chestnuts what is also not the last aspect.
Tip!
Buy precooked chestnuts to save time.
The Versatile Chestnut
Chestnuts can be eaten in lot of varieties, candied, cooked, steamed, grilled or roasted. They are great ingredient for sweet and salty foods. Chestnuts can be used to stuff poultry and vegetables also. They can be found in stores fresh, dried and canned. The chestnut flour is one of the basic ingredients of gluten free sweets. Try Kyara’s Chocolate Cake, she used chestnut flour in it. It’s a super delicious cake!
Chestnuts and Health
Chestnuts do not have gluten. But they have a high content of sugar, especially starch. Chestnuts are rich in fiber and minerals such as potassium, phosphorus, manganese, molybdenum, copper and magnesium. They contain vitamin B2 and vitamin E. Chestnuts are the only low-fat nuts and the only nuts that contain vitamin C. They predominantly contain complex carbohydrates. Our body digests slowly them for a stable energy source.
Chestnut Dishes for Christmas
There is no Christmas without chestnut dishes. This is not the first time we have shared a chestnut recipe with you. Our recipes reflect the many uses of chestnuts. One of our very first recipes was a delicious dessert, a roll. We published stuffing what is great with roasted turkey. I mentioned Kyara’s cake above. We recommend all these dishes to your Christmas table with much love.
Chestnut Cream Soup with Mushroom
Ingredients
- 1 onion finely cut
- 3 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 120 gram celery root peeled and chopped
- 120 gram parsnip peeled and chopped
- 80 gram sweet potato peeled and chopped
- 1 liter chicken stock
- 200 gram chestnut cooked and chopped
- 80 ml almond cream
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
For serving
- 100 gram bacon cut strips
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 160 gram button mushroom sliced
- 1 sprig celery leaves
- 40 gram sweet potato finely sliced
- Some drops of almond cream for decoration optional
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 190°C.
- Heat olive oil in a 2-liter soup pan. Add onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes, until translucent.
- Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add chopped celery root, parsnip, sweet potato and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add chicken stock and cook on medium low heat for 15 minutes.
- Add cooked chestnut and cook for 10 minutes.
- Take off the soup from the stove and use immersion blender to make it creamy.
- Add almond cream, stir and warm the soup for 2 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Meanwhile you can prepare the mushroom, sweet potato and celery leaves to the top.
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan.
- Add bacon stripes and sauté for 3 minutes, until golden.
- Add sliced mushroom and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Place the sliced sweet potato to baking tray and put into the oven for 10 minutes, until crispy. Be careful, it could burn easily!
- Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a small pan. When it’s hot, fry celery leaves for 2-3 minutes.
- Serve the soup to bowls, add mushroom and bacon mixture, crispy sweet potato and celery leaves to the top of the soup. Add some drops of almond cream to decorate. Enjoy!