Chestnut Soup and My Recipe Addiction
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I have a recipe problem. You see, I rarely cook from a recipe and yet I have approximately 23 million recipes saved to try. I don’t really believe in new year’s resolutions but I must say that this year, I am really going to make an active effort to try some of the things I have had bookmarked for months. Years, maybe.
My internet favorites? Whoa. I would venture to say 95% of my saved sites are recipes (and are completely unorganized, of course). Add in there the fact that I have 2 home computers and one work computer and you are looking at a borderline-crazy addiction. Did I mention Google Reader? Because I have about 300 recipes saved there, too.
And I don’t limit my addiction to the space-saving Internet. Oh, no. I have cookbooks that take up space, and magazines, too. I even started a project a couple weeks ago. I have all these old cooking magazines sitting around taking up space. Here’s a sample.
I decided to go through these magazines one by one and rip out every recipe that sounds good, and then recycle the magazines. Eventually I plan on bookmarking the recipes online rather than keeping the clippings, but for now this removes some of the clutter and will refresh my mind about things I want to make. Even if I don’t try these recipes, they often act as inspiration.
This recipe has been saved since the beginning of soup-making season – LAST year. In fact, it sounded so good when I saw it that I told myself I would be making it pretty much immediately. OK, so my promise finally came to fruition well over a year later.
And it kinda sucks I waited, too, because this is a good soup. Have I told you how much I love chesnuts? Oh, man. I am such a happy camper sitting around peeling and eating roasted chestnuts. I love mushrooms, too. This soup is such a nice combo of those earthy, delicious flavors. But *of course* I had to add some bacon. This would be a delicious vegetarian soup if you omit the bacon and use vegetable stock. It’s so creamy and rich and yet, it has no cream in it.
I am submitting this post (hopefully the first of many to come this year!) to Ruth, who hosts Bookmarked Recipes weekly.
Chestnut Soup with Porcini Mushrooms and Sauteed Root Vegetables
1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
2 cups hot water
3-4 slices bacon, diced
1/2 Tbsp. butter
1 parsnip, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 celery rib, sliced
2 large shallots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bouquet garni (1 sprig thyme, 1 sprig parsley, 1 Turkish bay leaf)
3 Tbsp. sherry
3.5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 lb. roasted and peeled chestnuts, coarsley chopped
Creme fraiche or sour cream for garnish
Combine dried mushrooms and water and let stand about 15 minutes, until mushrooms are soft.
Add bacon to medium heat and cook. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. If there’s more than 1/2 Tbsp or so of bacon grease, pour the excess off, and then add in the butter. To the pot, add the parsnip, carrot, celery, shallots and garlic. Saute until tender, then deglaze with the sherry and reduce slightly. Add the bouquet garni and the broth.
Transfer the porcinis to the pot, and also pour in the soaking liquid being sure not to pour in any of the sediment that has settled at the bottom. Add chestnuts and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the herbs and puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender. Garnish with bacon and, if desired, parsley and sour cream.
Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories: 166 / Fat: 5.8g / Carbs: 24.5g / Fiber: 1.7g / Protein: 5g
Adapted from Sara Moulton
This looks so comforting and I also love starting soups with bacon! Bacon does make everything better.
This looks so comforting and I also love starting soups with bacon! Bacon does make everything better.
I feel ya on the bookmarked / saved recipe thing. I think I could eat for a year just cooking new things that I saved recipes for, haha. My husband loves chestnuts but not mushrooms. I wonder if I could get him to eat mushrooms this way. Hmm…
I feel ya on the bookmarked / saved recipe thing. I think I could eat for a year just cooking new things that I saved recipes for, haha. My husband loves chestnuts but not mushrooms. I wonder if I could get him to eat mushrooms this way. Hmm…
What a great dish for the winter! I’ve been eyeing chestnuts at Trader Joes but haven’t had a reason to buy them… but now I do! 🙂
What a great dish for the winter! I’ve been eyeing chestnuts at Trader Joes but haven’t had a reason to buy them… but now I do! 🙂
I never know what to do with chestnuts – I need to try this soup – it does look mighty fine. Even cutting out the recipes, I still have trouble recycling the mags.
I never know what to do with chestnuts – I need to try this soup – it does look mighty fine. Even cutting out the recipes, I still have trouble recycling the mags.
I can see why you saved this one!
I can see why you saved this one!
Welcome to recipeaholics anonymous! Love this soup Elly…chestnuts are absolutely amazing and delicious. I love them in this soup!
Welcome to recipeaholics anonymous! Love this soup Elly…chestnuts are absolutely amazing and delicious. I love them in this soup!
Sounds delicious. Nice variety of vegetables and the earthiness of the porcinis (my utmost favorite mushrooms) must pair amazingly well with the chestnuts and bacon.
Sounds delicious. Nice variety of vegetables and the earthiness of the porcinis (my utmost favorite mushrooms) must pair amazingly well with the chestnuts and bacon.
Interesting fact:
The hubs likes roasted chestnuts on their own, but not in any dishes.
I like roasted chestnuts in dishes, but not on their own.
Interesting fact:
The hubs likes roasted chestnuts on their own, but not in any dishes.
I like roasted chestnuts in dishes, but not on their own.
I made a mushroom and chestnut soup over the holidays and I can relate to this…earthy, delicious an filling.
Warning: be careful with the clippings. I had this exact thought, and followed through with the exact *genius* and earth-saving idea. However, I have ended up with stacks of pages instead. So now I had to break down and come up with a solution to manage them. So here is my solution (for now): I bought a strap hinge scrapbook (has paper pages) and some removable adhesive (reposition-able scrapbook glue). So I pretty much made post its out of the recipes I’ve clipped. So now they are temporarily housed in a book until I ditch them or put them in my recipe collection. It’s my in between so I don’t have stacks (and stacks) of magazine pages that have delicious recipes I’ve never made. Hope it helps.
Warning: be careful with the clippings. I had this exact thought, and followed through with the exact *genius* and earth-saving idea. However, I have ended up with stacks of pages instead. So now I had to break down and come up with a solution to manage them. So here is my solution (for now): I bought a strap hinge scrapbook (has paper pages) and some removable adhesive (reposition-able scrapbook glue). So I pretty much made post its out of the recipes I’ve clipped. So now they are temporarily housed in a book until I ditch them or put them in my recipe collection. It’s my in between so I don’t have stacks (and stacks) of magazine pages that have delicious recipes I’ve never made. Hope it helps.
I suppose this is something that happens to all foodies. I’ve cut out all the recipes I thought were good and now I have them in a box but never find time to look through them any more, in fact I don’t even look through the many cookbooks I have.
The recipe sounds delicious and in fact I have all the ingredients, except the Turkish bay leaf. I have Greek bay leaves though 🙂
I’ve been super busy and not blogging much lately, so it was just today I realized you’ve switched to a new url! Looks great!
I cut up a bunch of my cooking magazines a year or two ago, when I got sick of the huge pile that I didn’t want to get rid of. I taped the recipes onto white paper and put them into sheet protectors in a binder, so now a bunch of the recipes are saved there. I love organizing like that 🙂
I’ve been super busy and not blogging much lately, so it was just today I realized you’ve switched to a new url! Looks great!
I cut up a bunch of my cooking magazines a year or two ago, when I got sick of the huge pile that I didn’t want to get rid of. I taped the recipes onto white paper and put them into sheet protectors in a binder, so now a bunch of the recipes are saved there. I love organizing like that 🙂
So glad to be in the roundup with you! I also share your recipe addiction though my OCDness forces me to occasionally go through and edit a bit =) I also have a large stack of Saveur I cannot bear to part with as the pictures are just so darn beautiful. This recipe sounds elicious and I love your blog.
Arika
My Yummy Life
So glad to be in the roundup with you! I also share your recipe addiction though my OCDness forces me to occasionally go through and edit a bit =) I also have a large stack of Saveur I cannot bear to part with as the pictures are just so darn beautiful. This recipe sounds elicious and I love your blog.
Arika
My Yummy Life
This sounds like a great combination! I really love chestnuts.
Hi Elly,
Great soup – looks so comforting and inviting! Thanks for sending this into the bookmarked recipes round up
Ruth
I have only had chestnut soup once, but it was wonderful. I will have to give it a try at home.
I have only had chestnut soup once, but it was wonderful. I will have to give it a try at home.
A chestnut soup sounds good!
A chestnut soup sounds good!