My creamy mushroom soup with chestnuts is the starter of my 3-course menu for Christmas. It works in the menu but also as a delicious wintery dish on a stand-alone basis. I have a main article with the complete 3-course menu for you here. Also here are the links to the main dish (Beef Wellington with mushrooms and chestnuts) and the dessert (eclair with chestnut cream).
Delhaize
This article has been published in a collaboration with Delhaize. They sponsored the bigger part of the used ingredients. They set-up a challenge every month, outlining a few guidelines. For the December 2016 challenge, the guidelines are a “3-course menu for Christmas”. Furthermore, they ask to mainly use products of their home brand and set a budget. In this case, Besides those guidelines Delhaize only asked to publish what I did with the budget.
Creamy Mushroom Soup with Chestnuts
My 3-course menu for Christmas is as often with dishes for the colder season on the heavier side. More calories, more carbs, more fat, more everything. That being said, I tried to ditch those conservative festive traditions as much as possible and still deliver something deliciously and festive.
The creamy mushroom soup with chestnuts definitely makes this happen. Ultimately it’s a really condensed mushroom soup that gets the festive and winter touch from the chestnuts. I wanted to elevate the dish even further and added some cream. In the end, it’s all blended to give you a relatively thick texture.
As your eyes should enjoy it too, I fried a few extra mushrooms on the side and put them on top of the creamy mushroom soup.
Creamy Mushroom Soup with Chestnuts
This was definitely one of my best mushroom soups so far.
3-course Menu for Christmas
When I received the guidelines for the challenge I wanted to make something I had never cooked before, but also use ingredients I enjoy working with. Finally, they had to also fit the theme. Therefore my main ingredient was instantly found: chestnuts! They are the ultimate winter ingredient in my eyes (I could eat them ALL THE TIME!) and can be done in so many ways. Chestnuts will be the main ingredient of my 3-course Menu for Christmas and you’ll find it in the starter, main course, and dessert.
If you want to make the full version of my menu you find the remaining dishes here: main – dessert. I strongly recommend you prepare the soup a day in advance. This will make your live much easier on the big day. You only need to reheat it (it’s going to taste really amazing) and prepare the garnish if you want to add some. This will make your festive dinner much more relaxed and enjoyable – not only for your guests but also or rather especially for the host 😉
Let me know what you think of my soup and the 3-course menu for Christmas <3
- 2 small onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- 380 ml vegetable stock
- 100 ml white wine whatever you feel like, I had chardonnay
- 100 ml cream
- 350 g mushrooms I had a mix of whit and brown mushrooms
- 100 g chestnuts pre-cooked
- 1 Tsp butter
- pepper plenty
- salt
- cilantro, ground
- cayenne pepper
- ginger, ground
- rosemary, dried
- thyme, dried
- 50 g mushrooms chopped - optional, for garnish
- Heat a medium pot with butter.
- Chop up the onions and the garlic in small pieces and add to the melted butter. Let cook on medium heat for a few minutes.
- Cut the mushrooms into small pieces and then add them to the pot. Don't worry if your pot is completely full by now. As the mushrooms contain mainly water, the volume will reduce a lot. Stir occasionally.
- Now cut the chestnuts into pieces and add them to the pot. Continue stirring.
- Turn on high heat. Once everything has heated up and got some colour, you can add the white wine. The wine should almost disappear, then add the stock and the cream.
- Add the spices and blend everything until a thick soup forms. Taste the soup and if needed re-season and blend quickly again.
- Put into a small bowl.
- Optional: Heat up a small pan with some butter and add the remaining mushrooms. Fry them until they are golden brown.
- Once browned, add them on top of your bowl of soup and put some extra freshly ground pepper over the soup.
- Serve with some white wine (or fresh apple juice) and enjoy!
If you want to make the full version of my menu you find the remaining dishes here: main - desert. I strongly recommend you prepare the soup a day in advance. This will make your live much easier on the big day. You only need to reheat it (it's going to taste really amazing) and prepare the garnish if you want to add it. This will make your festive dinner much more relaxed and enjoyable - not only for your guests, but also or rather especially for the host 😉
May I ask how is the chestnut is pre cooked?
Dear Thanh, first of all thanks for taking the time reading my recipe.
Of course you may ask 🙂
I bought peeled and already cooked chestnuts. But if you cannot buy any of those buy fresh ones.
Gives them a cut on one side and roast them in a pan on the lowest heat for an hour.
Or you bake the at 100°C in the oven for about 60 to 90 minutes.
You usually can tell when they’re done once they start to spread their sweet and nutty flavor.
I like the roasting technique. The fasted way is actually to boil them for 5 to 10 minutes in a pot of water.
Once they’re done let them cool a moment and peel them.
I hope this answers the question 🙂