Roasted Chestnut Soup

Roasted Chestnut Soup

The first time I had chestnut soup was at a small French Bistro in the West Village. It was mid-December in New York City and I looked like a living snowman when I entered Bouchon Bistro and Wine Bar. My friend was a regular there and insisted I try their chestnut soup. It was love at first taste!

However, I moved to San Francisco the following year and couldn’t find this delicious dish on a menu anywhere. And after a two-year-long chestnut soup craving, I decided to figure out how to make it at home.

In the winter months, especially when it’s extra cold outside, this velvety rich soup is the perfect dish to warm you up. I guarantee you’ll love it!

Ingredients for Roasted Chestnut Soup- 6 cups stock: would suggest half duck and half beef. I usually make the duck stock from scratch.

• 5 whole Star Anise
• 2 cups Roasted Chestnuts: packaged is fine, but just to be clear, water chestnuts are NOT the same thing as chestnuts. Here’s a great link for easy chestnut roasting instructions.
• ½ cup of brandy
• Dash of Clove
• Heavy whipping cream
• Salt to taste

In a large pot, bring the stock to a boil. Reduce heat so that the soup is brought to a simmer. Add the star anise and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chestnuts and simmer for approximately 20 minutes – or until the chestnuts begin to break apart. Remove the stock from the heat.

Using a ladle, spoon soup and chestnuts into a blender – this may take 2 rounds. Hold the lid down firmly and start the blender on low, increasing the speed to high gradually (note: starting the blender on high may force the very hot soup to strongly impact the lid and possibly burn you – that would be bad). Blend the soup until it is completely smooth and one solid color – you can strain it if necessary.

Return the well-blended soup to the stove and simmer again. Add the brandy and stir thoroughly. Simmer for no more than 5 minutes. And now for the easy part:

Ladle the chestnut soup into soup bowls, add 1 Tb. of heavy whipping cream and…

Enjoy!

Sausage is Souper!

Dear Readers,

I must admit, I’m currently experiencing what’s commonly known as the post-holiday blues in a serious way. That magical time of the year between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and New Years Day is over. All the parties, all the special food, all the visiting with loved ones you don’t see very often has fizzled down into the doldrums of the chilly winter here in the Northeast. To that I say, bah-humbug!

BUT winter is a really great for preparing and eating the heavier foods you don’t want to eat in the summer because it’s too hot to have the stove or oven on too long. With temperatures in the low 30s yesterday I thought it would be a great Sunday for Sausage Meatball Soup. 

You’ll find as you get to know me, I don’t often follow recipes. I usually know if I can make something just by tasting it. My husband used to tease me because when we go out to eat together, I’ll go completely silent if my dish is delicious to concentrate on the flavors so I can to try and decipher the recipe. He used to laugh about that, until I started making the same dish for him just as well or even better. Now he just gives me my time to taste and eagerly awaits the day I make it for him at home.

Such is the case with the sausage meatball soup I made yesterday. I didn’t use a recipe and I haven’t actually eaten sausage soup in years. The thought of it just popped into my head and I thought I’d try it out to see how it would taste. The results were delightful…try for yourself.

Truly & tastefully,
Tara

Sausage Meatball Soup

• 1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, loose – not in casing (or you can take it out of its casing in a pinch)
• 3 cups fresh chopped baby spinach
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 64 ounces of chicken broth
• 1/2 cup powdered parmesan or Romano cheese (or more to taste)
• Pepper and salt to taste (keep in mind you probably won’t need a lot of salt because of the cheese)
• ** Optional ingredients for the carb. hungry – 2 potatoes diced into bite sized chunks, a large can of drained and rinsed hominy

 

Sausage Meatball Soup Prep:
Sit down and relax for the first activity, it’s a bit time consuming but well worth it. Roll the pound of loose sweet sausage into little bite sized meatballs. They should be able the size of a quarter, if a quarter was spherical. Brown the sausage meatballs in your soup pot, you shouldn’t need oil because the sausage is fatty, but if they start to stick just pump a few squirts of cooking spray into the pot with the sausage. for a couple of hours. Somewhere near the end of that 2 hour simmer time frame, add the ½ cup of parmesan. You want to make sure to add the cheese when the soup is not boiling or it will melt and stick to your pan and serving spoon. About 10 minutes before you’re about to serve, stir in the chopped spinach and serve when the spinach has wilted. **If you want to add the carb-ie ingredients, put the diced potatoes and hominy in the pot at the same time as you add the chicken broth.