You know those days when it's cold outside and all you want to do is curl under a blanket with a bowl of hot soup? well, today was one of those days. My favorite cream soup involves chestnuts. That being said, I don't make this soup often enough and the reason being those chestnuts are sooooo hard to peel. Of course I could always get already peeled chestnuts, but then what would the charm be in that?
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for the drizzle, divided
32 oz whole chestnuts, boiled and peeled
3 medium-sized yellow onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 tablespoons red wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon fresh lovage, chopped
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 thick smoked bacon slices, finely cubed, and fried
fresh thyme sprigs
INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium-sized soup pan heat the two tablespoons of olive oil until sizzling. Add the chestnuts, onions, garlic, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and dried thyme leaves. Sauté over medium heat for about ten minutes, mixing from time to time. Add the red wine, chicken stock, fresh lovage leaves, two cups of water, then boil on medium heat for about thirty minutes. Mix occasionally. Carefully remove the hot soup from the pan and place it in a food processor and process into a cream.
Pour the cream soup into a serving dish, add the sour cream in the center, drizzle with olive oil, and top with the fried bacon and fresh thyme.
