French chestnut cream soup suits a cool evening. The pleasure is the nutty sweetness of blended chestnuts, picked up by crisp bacon on top. Judging the water is the difficult part, since the soup should be thick without turning stodgy.
The chestnut cooking water is kept back, and a ladleful goes in while the vegetables are frying to build the aroma before everything is blended together. The bacon is seared separately so it renders some of its fat.
This batch weighs about 1.3kg, at roughly 293 calories per 100g.
Method
Peel the chestnuts, soak them in lightly salted water, then rinse them to wash off the sap.
Put the chestnuts and 500 to 600ml water in a pot and boil at 100 degrees C for about 15 minutes, keeping the cooking water. The amount of water depends on how thick you want the soup, and an ordinary pot takes about 100ml more.
Sear the bacon until it renders its fat and turns crisp and fragrant, or air fry it at 200 degrees C for 8 to 10 minutes.
Melt 40g unsalted butter in a pot and fry the celery and leek first, then the carrot and shallot.
When the vegetables are lightly caught and fragrant, add a ladle of the chestnut cooking water and keep frying to build the aroma.
Add the boiled chestnuts and 4 tablespoons concentrated chicken stock, cook, then blend until the soup is smooth.
Ladle the soup into bowls, add 150ml fresh cream, roasted chestnuts, the crisp bacon and parsley or spring onion, and finish by grating nutmeg over the surface.
Tips
Choose chestnuts that are round, full and bright brown rather than shrunken.
Leeks are sold at large supermarkets, and the white part of a Vietnamese leek works in their place.
Home made chicken stock can replace the concentrated stock, in which case use less cooking water so the soup stays thick.
The amount of water depends on the thickness you want, and an ordinary pot takes about 100ml more.
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