10670 Chestnut Soup

1/2 lb chestnuts, 2 onions, a carrot, a small piece of celery, 1 1/2 oz butter or bacon fat, salt, pepper, 2 1/2 pints stock or water.

Score the chestnuts across on the rounded side and bake in a slow oven for 15 mins. Both shell and skin should come off easily if they are peeled while still warm.
Brown the chopped onion, carrot and celery in the butter or bacon fat; add the chestnuts, the seasoning and the stock. Cook for about 40 mins until the chestnuts are completely tender and have started to break up. Put the soup through a sieve, heat up and serve with slices of fried bread.

Does not have chickpeas and the chestnuts are not left whole but I am sure you could easily adapt the recipe.

6 ozs unsalted butter, 2 ozs pancetta (in one piece), 2/3 cup chopped shallots, 2/3 cup chopped celery, 1/2lb sliced button mushrooms, 1 1/2 lbs vacuum packed chestnuts or roasted and prepared at home, s&p, 1/2 cup cognac, 5 cups chicken stock, 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig sage, 3/4 cup cream.

In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 of the butter over a medium heat. Add the pancetta, shallots and celery and cook for about 10 mins or until the celery is tender. Remove pan from the heat and set aside.
Melt the remaining butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and chestnuts and saute until the chestmuts are golden brown, about 5 mins, Transfer to the pan with the pancetta.
Return the saucepan to medium heat and stir until the pancetta and the celery are hot. Season to taste with s&p. Remove from the heat and add the cognac. Flame the cognac to evaporate the alcohol, when the flames die down, return the pan to medium heat and add the stock. Tie the bay leaf, sage and thyme together with kitchen twine and add to the pan. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 mins stirring occasionally.
Remove the pancetta from the pan and discard also discard the herb bundle. Blend the soup until smooth.
Return the soup to the pan, stir in the cream and gently heat through, do not boil. Season to taste and serve.

Again does not use chickpeas and the chestnuts are not left whole, I am sure it would be just as tasty if you miss out the blending stage. Perhaps the villagers used chickpeas and less chestnuts to keep costs down - chestnuts can be expensive.

and dear Beckett's as you have a place in Umbria, if you return before summer 2009 the very best chestnut soup I ever ate can be found at La Castagna in Preggio. Open evenings only and good idea to book it. 075 941 0294

Many thanks for info on the chestnut soup. I have since found this site with lots of recipes using chestnuts, as they are in season thought this may be useful

tiramisu with chestnuts is certainly one I will try.

[url=http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/recipe.asp?id=424]LifeStyle FOOD - Recipes - Chestnut Tiramisu[/url]

Regards Lin
the chestnut addict

Whilst on nuts, can anyone else suggest recipes containing other nuts, either savory or sweet??

[quote=anne2;99205] Perhaps the villagers used chickpeas and less chestnuts to keep costs down - chestnuts can be expensive.[/quote]

Nice recipe, but you are clearly unfamiliar with Piegaro, where you would struggle to find a square foot of earth in which to plant a chick-pea.....which wasn't under a chestnut tree :smile:

[quote=Charles Phillips;99252]Nice recipe, but you are clearly unfamiliar with Piegaro, where you would struggle to find a square foot of earth in which to plant a chick-pea.....which wasn't under a chestnut tree :smile:[/quote]

Quite true, never heard of it let alone been there. Perhaps the Chestnut Festa should be marked out in next years diary! But apparently the zuppa Beckett's enjoyed so much did contain chick peas as well as the chestnuts!

Yes it does (contain chick-peas) , and very nice it is too! The whole chestnuts which float about in it are beautfully tender. It isn't the 'very best' chestnut soup I've ever eaten - that was prepared by a good friend (who had been landed with mega kilos of chestnuts from his neighbours: in chestnut forested areas these things are more difficult to get shot of than an excess of figs!)

His recipe (I suspect his invention) was to do a very smoothly pureed chestnut soup, and then he threw into it a very small quantity of shredded roast (boiled?) chicken. I don't know whether he had done this at the last minute (or whether he had used a chicken stock with the soup) but the end result was extremely exciting because the two flavors remained totally distinct. It was chestnut soup with chicken, not chestnutandchicken soup. (But he is a star hobby chef!)

[quote=Sally Donaldson;99247]Whilst on nuts, can anyone else suggest recipes containing other nuts, either savory or sweet??[/quote]

Here you go

[url=http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/776/]Nut Soup Recipes like Nigerian Peanut Soup or Cashew Curry Chowder Recipes[/url]

Not my kind of thing J+C though. I was hoping for some authentic tested Italian ones. Of course pesto is made with pine nuts.

This evening I asked one of my neighbours if she had a recipe for chestnut soup as much of the diet up here in winter is based on maize flour (polenta) and chestnut flour dishes.
Actually I'll get to try this soon as I got an invite to sample 'her' [B]Zuppa di Castagne della Valtellina[/B] on Saturday! Can't be bad eh?

This is what she told me, so I translated it and here it is...

[I][B]Ingredients:[/B]
For about 4 people.
2 large potatoes
1 pack of champignon (button mushrooms)
2 [U]large[/U] handfuls of chestnuts
1 clove of garlic
1 onion
1 carrot
Origano
Parsley
Tarragon

[B]Preparation:[/B]
Using a large suacepan, fry the sliced and chopped garlic and onion with the finely chopped carrot, togeher with a little origano, parsley and tarragon.

Clean and slice the mushrooms and add these to the pan.

While the mushrooms are cooking, put the chestnuts into a saucepan of water and boil them over a low gas for approx 20 mins.

While the chestnuts are boiling and the mushrooms are frying with the onion, garlic etc. (take care not to let these become dry), peel the potatoes and cut into very small pieces, adding them to the mushrooms too.

During cooking, gradually add a little hot water from a separate saucepan, such that the vegetables are always cooking in liquid. Add a little salt or a piece of stock cube.

At this point the chestnuts should be cooked. Strain them, shell and skin them (even the fine inner skin while it is hot), and add them as you skin them, to the soup.

When you've added all the chestnuts, leave to cook for a further 20 mins or more, adjust salt to taste, add a pinch of pepper and serve after adding a little olive oil.
[/I]

[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Chestnuts02.jpg/180px-Chestnuts02.jpg[/IMG]

[quote=anne2;99263]Quite true, never heard of it let alone been there. Perhaps the Chestnut Festa should be marked out in next years diary! But apparently the zuppa Beckett's enjoyed so much did contain chick peas as well as the chestnuts![/quote]

Our pleasant day at the festa,
I recall that the festa was the 21st for the village and the dates this years were 2-12 Oct the day we went was Sunday lunch time, mainly locals but they made us very welcome, we guess they fed we around 400 over the lunch period, the orders were taken quickly and the very good quality food arrive within minuites, 2 courses cost around 12euros each including wine. .
We congratulated and thanked the villagers very much, at which they seemed naively surprised.
They did provide a small handout timetable for the festa. so we will look for this next year and certainly aim to be there. :yes:
We congratulated and thanked the villagers very much, at which they seemed naively surprised.:wideeyed:

Hope this is not classed as advertising, just credit when due to a friendly village.
Lin

Thanks for all those recipes guys, the only problem will be deciding which one to do first. :bigergrin:

Plunge in at the deep end!!! lol

During our last trip I bought in Barga, at a small shop that sells local products on the main street coming straight from the gate at the parking, a couple of packets of chestnut tagliatelle which were absolutely delicious. I served them with a duck and orange ragú which I concocted myself inspired in a traditional Tuscan dish which apparently is the original source of the French "Canard à l'orange". The Tuscans say that this dish was taken to France by the chefs who accompanied Catherine of Medici.
Here is what I did:

1.- The day before I cooked 1 1/2 ducks in a Slow Cooker (Crockpot) leaving them whole and just with salt and pepper, 1/2 cup of white wine, 1 teaspoon Tuscan Herbs Mixture, the juice of 1 orange and a few slices of another orange. I did this for 8 hours and I left the pieces to cool down in the crockpot.

2.- Next day, I sauteed in a bit of olive oil the following:
1 onion finely chopped
2 stalks celery finely chopped
2 carrots finely chopped
Once cooked, I added about two tablespoons of grated orange peel, 1 little container of glazed orange and lemon peels, 1/2 cup white wine, a small glass of "grappa", 1/2 cup orange juice and allowed it to reduce and evaporate. I added then the duck meat, chopped and allowed it to cook for a few more minuted.
I served it with the chestnut tagliatelli and a bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for those who cannot eat pasta without cheese on the side (I prefer this dish without cheese.....)
It is a delicious combination without using the traditional tomato based ragús and more delicate to accompany chestnut based pasta.
Enjoy!

That sounds delicious Gala, I must try it and the soup recipes if I ever get my act together.
I had a bag of freshly roasted chestnuts whilst in Strasbourg the other day. They were mostly all burnt but I finished them all the same. :bigergrin: