Since I can remember, my dad has been making cream of chestnut soup for Christmas (and sometimes Thanksgiving!) dinner. This recipe comes from the Blueberry Hill Menu Cookbook, which was written by Elise Masterson who used to own the Blueberry Hill Inn in Vermont with her family. Unfortunately, the Blueberry Hill cookbooks are out of print, but you can buy them used on Amazon here. This recipe calls for fresh chestnuts. However, shelling and preparing fresh chestnuts is a huge undertaking so if you are short on time, you can easily substitute bottled chestnuts instead. My dad has made the recipe both ways and you seriously can’t taste the difference. I will admit that this soup isn’t the prettiest of to bunch, but it is SO delicious that its taste makes up for its appearance in spades.
Dad’s Chestnut Soup
Adapted from Blueberry Hill Menu Cookbook
Ingredients
2 pounds chestnuts (or 1 large 1 lb. jar of bottled chestnuts – we use Minerve Whole Roasted French Chestnuts)
1 large sweet onion, diced
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 large carrots, diced
1 quart chicken or turkey broth
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup pale dry sherry
Salt & pepper, to taste
Directions
1. If you are using fresh chestnuts: Slit each chestnut with a sharp knife – two slits each, crossed. Cover them with boiling water and boil for 15 minutes. They will NOT be completely tender when you pull them out and that’s OK. Remove them one at a time from the water (this is the trick here – they must stay in hot water, each one, until you’re ready for it) and let cold water run on each chestnut in turn. The skins will come off very quickly, and the membrane as well. Set aside. Repeat until you have removed the skins/membrane for each chestnut.
2. In a heavy 3- or 4-quart saucepan, saute onion and butter until the onions are lightly browned. Add the whole peeled chestnuts, carrots and chicken broth to the saucepan.
3. Simmer until the chestnuts are quite soft, about 15 more minutes, then pour liquid through a colander into a pot. Put the chestnuts, onions and carrots that didn’t drain through the colander in a food processor of Foley food mill to blend. Blend to desired consistency – I prefer to blend until just small pieces and no lumps remain. If you blend to a puree, you will lose the extra “oomph” of color that the carrot pieces provide and be left with a light brown soup.
4. Return chestnut mixture to broth and bring it all back to a boil. Then remove it from heat, add cream, sugar, sherry, salt and pepper.
5. Serve without boiling again. If you cool it and reheat it, don’t boil it when warming up. (Note: We always prepare this the day before serving since it does so well reheated.)
Sweet Southern Comfort 