Fresh chestnut soup

Last week, I finally found at the supermarket fresh chestnuts at an affordable price, so I bought 1.6 kilos of them. Because this explains that, the next four recipes, salty and sweet, that I will be posting on the blog will involve fresh chestnuts!

Chestnuts are rich in vitamin C, in B-vitamins and particularly folate, in amino acids and antioxidants. They are an excellent source of minerals – copper, magnesium, potassium, and a good source of dietary fibres.

This chestnut soup is delicious, with a delicate and sweet taste. I will for sure do it again, but as I used fresh chestnuts, it ends up being very long to prepare. The soup can surely also be made from already peeled and cooked whole chestnuts bought in jar or vac-packed, but I do not find them here.

The quantities in the recipe serve 2 (386 calories per serving). The soup is ready in 1 hour and half or so.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh chestnuts (about 400g)
• Water
• ½ cup of milk (I used whole milk)
• ¼ cup of half and half
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation

To cook the fresh chestnuts: rinse the chestnuts. Make a cross with a sharp-pointed knife on the flat side. In a large saucepan, cook in boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Using a slotted spoon, strain 2 chestnuts at a time out of the hot water (leave the other ones in it). With the point of the knife, peel the outer skin and the inner skin (without this first step of boiling the chestnuts for 5 minutes, it is very difficult to remove the inner skin). Peeling the chestnuts is a very time-consuming operation – it took me over 1 hour to peel 800g (about 4 cups) of chestnuts!

When all the chestnuts are peeled, boil them covered over medium-high heat for about 30 minutes or so, or until it is possible to crush them. Add more water along the way if needed. Strain them, but reserve the cooking liquid (about 2 ½ cups are needed) to make the soup.

Transfer the chestnuts to a food processor and blend them into a powdery purée.

Bring back the chestnut purée to the saucepan. Over medium heat, stir 2 ½ cups of the cooking liquid in. Add the milk and the half and half. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stirring often, reheat until just hot.

Serve!