Kelly Rossiter
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When I was a kid there were popcorn vendors who stood with their carts outside the Museum and Art Gallery and the large department stores and sold freshly popped corn. They also had a little grill on the side of the wagon where they would roast chestnuts. I can still conjure up the picture of my family dressed in our best clothing (we were going Downtown, after all) standing on the pavement in front of Simpsons to see the Christmas display windows with the first cold of late autumn in the air and the aroma of roasted chestnuts. That was the closest I ever got to chestnuts. We weren't allowed to eat them because my mother didn't trust the food from carts, still doesn't, and she never roasted them herself. Somehow I managed to get to adulthood without ever tasting a chestnut.
Then my son brought me a jar of chestnut soup from the cheese store where he works. It was one of the most delicious soups I had ever tasted and I kept thinking about it for weeks after I had it. It was however, prohibitively expensive, so it wasn't something I was going to have often. When he was holding a dinner party for twelve at my house, we thought we would see if we could replicate the soup. We had a fundamental disagreement about the amount of stock to put into the pot. He wanted more, I wanted less. We put in more and the flavour of the chestnuts was drowned out. As the guests were arriving, we were madly boiling the soup down and trying to doctor it to get some additional flavour. It was okay, but nothing to get excited about.
I found some chestnuts at the farmers' market last week and I decided to try again. It wasn't quite as fantastic as the original soup, but it was really excellent. It's a bit of a job roasting and peeling the chestnuts, but it was worth it. I've never used canned or frozen chestnuts, but I suppose that's an option too. The original recipe uses Armagnac and that is what Hugh and used for his soup, but he makes more money than I do, so I used bourbon and it worked out just fine. I think the key to this soup is to cook it for a very long time over a low heat, allowing the nuts to break down and the flavours to meld completely.
Chestnut Soup
1 lb chestnuts
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced finely
4 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
1/2 cup bourbon, or brandy
1 cup cream (I used half and half but you could use 18% or 35% for a richer soup)
salt to taste
fresh thyme for garnish
- With a sharp paring knife, score an x on the flat side of each of the chestnuts, making sure you break through the shell, otherwise they will explode in your oven. Roast chestnuts at 400F for 15 minutes. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, peel the chestnuts. Try to work fairly quickly because when they are warm the nut just pops out, but the shells harden a bit as they cool making it harder to peel.
- In a large pot, heat butter and add onions, cooking over a fairly low heat until they are golden, about 10 minutes. Add the chestnuts and stir.
- Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat so that the soup barely simmers. Add the bourbon or brandy. Cover the pot so that it isn't entirely tight, to allow a bit of steam to escape. Cook until the nuts are extremely soft, 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
- Puree the soup in a blender, or by using a hand held immersion blender. Add the cream and salt to taste. Ladle into serving bowls and garnish with fresh thyme.
Difficulty Level: Easy
Related Recipes:
Make a Potato Soup
Find Your Dinner at the Farmers' Market: Squash Ravioli
Soup of the Week: Creamy Pumpkin
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