Chestnut soup

Make yourself strong for the cold winter

Weather forecast people say one of the coldest winters are coming, so what better way to prepare yourself for winter flues than with chestnuts. Last winter i had a moment i felt like crap and i decided to eat a cup of soup (which i freezed in around october), and immediately i felt a lot better. It made me stronger again and the next day the bad feeling was over :)

So i like to share this recipe with you to go through winter cold without feeling sick.

INGREDIENTS :

500 gr chestnuts

3 tablespoons of good olive oil

1 potato peeled and in large cubes

1 onion chopped

1 porridge cut in slices

2 cubes of vegetable stock

2 liters of mineral water

50 ml light cream

pepper and salt

Cognac (brandy) not necessarily, but gives a lovely taste

TIP : 500 gr of chestnuts is measured unpeeled. Remember with peel it’s not the same weight. Well yeah, it was 499 gr with me............. i ate 1 chestnut :p

RECIPE :

1. First when you come back from the forest, you best check if the chestnuts are good and if there are no worms inside. How to do that?

Well, fill a bowl with water and lay the chestnuts in it......when some are floating, then it’s not good. Remove the floating ones and keep the rest. cut with a sharp knife a small incision in every chestnut, then boil a pot of water and add the freshly washed chestnuts, cook them for about 20 minutes. Remove the water and let cool down a bit. Otherwise you will burn your fingers anyways.

Then start to peel them, it should go better than when they are raw.

When they are finished like this, then you can start cutting your other vegetables.

2. Cut your vegetables, it does not have to be too small, as you are going to mix your soup anyway.

Heat up the oil a bit and add the onion....stir and let glaze. Add the porridge and the potato and stir again. Then add the brandy, mineral water and vegetable stock and heat up to cooking point. Add the Chestnuts and let cook at middle heat for about 20 minutes (as your chestnuts have been cooked before to peel), it means you only need to cook your soup for 20 minutes.

*if you do not pre-cook your chestnuts to peel, then you have to calculate 40 minutes for your soup to be ready.

3. Turn off the heat and add the light cream, not too much....about 50ml. just to have it a little bit more creamy. Mix your soup and that’s it, add some pepper and salt to your own taste.

That’s about it. Most of the work is actually peeling the chestnuts. The rest is peanuts :)

In pictures