Roast Carrot & Chestnut Soup with Croutons is a bowlful of sweet earthy warmth. Which might seem riduculous to you. Especially if you live in my neck of the woods. It's been near 80 degrees all week, the flowers are blooming and those wacky birds are chirpping their little beaks off. I have a weekend of gardening planned and it's time to get the pool in shape for the season.
It seems spring has sprung and I am enjoying the sun it's brung!
So why am I sitting here wearing purple velour and making a big bowl of warm chestnut soup? Certainly chestnut soup is a cool weather comforter of the first degree. Chestnuts remind me of snowy sleigh rides and big family meals by the fire. Chestnuts have a subtle yet distinctive flavor, and are rich and creamy when pureed. Making this soup taste much more luxurious than its simple ingredients would lead you to believe. Yes, chestnut soup is rightfully considered a "winter food". Why would I be trying on new swim suits with one half of my brain and cooking up a pot of soup with the other?
Well, they do call this venue I spit words into (on a near daily basis) the world WIDE web. So gosh dern it I feel I have a geographic obligation to consider the fact that it is February– the very dead of winter in some parts. So this soup is my way of saying I know what's going on out there. I don't want to be accused of being insensitive to those of you who may be a bit more weather challenged than me and my sunny Southern California brethren. Because I have been called a weather snob before. Well if the short shorts fit...
So to prove my alligence to winter weather everywhere, I have pulled the blinds, cranked the AC and put the soup pot on... brrr it's chilly in here. GREG
Roast Carrot & Chestnut Soup with Croutons seves 6 Click here for a printable recipe
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 3 large carrots, chopped
- 2 c chestnuts, roasted and peeled
- 1 pn kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 4 T extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 4 c chicken stock
- 1 pn freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/4 c heavy cream
- 3 thick slices of rustic bread, crusts removed and cut into 3/4-inch dice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the onions and carrots in a baking pan. Do not crowd the pan. Add several pinches of salt salt, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and toss to coat well. Roast until tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 mins. Let the vegetables cool a little, then combine with the already roasted chestnuts in a medium bowl, tossing to mix.
Place 1/3 of the mixture in a blender or food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add 1 cup of the stock and process to a smooth puree. Pour into a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Add another 1/3 of the mixture along with 1 more cup stock to the blender or food processor. This time pulse the mixture until a course, almost lumpy texture is achieved, you be the judge oh how much texture you’d like. Add this to the soup pot and repeat with the remaining carrot & chestnut mixture and 1 more cup stock. Then add this to the stock pot as well as the remaining cup stock. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer for about 20 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Season to taste.
Meanwhile, make the croutons. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a 12-inch saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the bread cubes and gently stir until crisp on all sides, about 4 minutes. Transfer the croutons to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.
To finish the soup, add the cream, stir to combine, and remove from the heat. Adjust seasoning one last time. Ladle into warmed soup bowls, and mound a spoonful of croutons in the center of each bowl.
Greg Henry writes the food blog Sippity Sup- Serious Fun Food, and contributes the Friday column on entertaining for The Back Burner at Key Ingredient. He’s active in the food blogging community, and a popular speaker at IFBC, Food Buzz Festival and Camp Blogaway. He’s led cooking demonstrations in Panama & Costa Rica, and has traveled as far and wide as Norway to promote culinary travel. He’s been featured in Food & Wine Magazine, Los Angeles Times, More Magazine, The Today Show Online and Saveur’s Best of the Web. Greg also co-hosts The Table Set podcast which can be downloaded on iTunes or at Homefries Podcast Network.
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Comments
you're such a sensitive guy
We are quite fortunate here in SoCal.
I paired chestnuts with mashed potatoes a couple weeks ago. Really like the idea to pair with carrots. Those pre-roasted and peeled chestnuts are great! Soup sounds good for tonight, we might be getting a drizzle...
LL
oh WOW!
I turned this vegan to accomodate a guest by using vegetable stock and coconut milk. It was divine! I would've been happy to forego the meat option for this rich and comforting soup. I also upped the spice ante a little by using the Sri Lankan Curry from World Spice Merchants here in Seattle. I put some directly in the soup, and seasoned the croutons as well. (http://www.worldspice.com/blends/curry-sri-lankan) The store itself is amazing- family owned, everything directly sourced, blends all made from their own recipes, and get this! They're ground to order, so you can't find them fresher. You can order online, which I do when I don't want to park in the Pike Place Market neighborhood (!) and what my cross-nation family does always. The Sri Lankan Curry has been showing up all over my cooking, and was really a perfect compliment to the sweet roast-y carrot goodness. It was such a stellar combination I'm thinking of using it in place of the traditional spices next time I make carrot cake! Thanks for this one.
Velour and Chestnuts
Two words we don't hear much anymore. Now as for chesnut soup with carrots I would eat in on a hot day in Tennessee and we get HOT days, like right now and it's February! I love this picture because it has a real sense of cozy in a cool way of course.
Having the air conditioner
Having the air conditioner on last week just felt so wrong! Goodness time flies...
purple velour!
sounds fabulous.
I am jealous of your weather, garden planning and pool prep - we don't open our pool until the first weekend in July. meanwhile, it is COLD here in Portland, and this soup would be perfect! wish I had some velour to warm up in too!
I could only hope that you found matching socks...
Beautiful soup!
Great soup
I would love to say our weather here in Seattle is just as lovely, but it's not, so your soup would be very welcome!
lovely soup and love your
lovely soup and love your humor and style of writing
Soup's on
I'm hoping for it to be cold again just so I can have this soup. Looks stellar, G. Not like G money, but G for Greg. Word.
Love the title!
And love the soup...gorgeous flavors!
At least in Europe there is real winter!
I remember eating chestnuts the Gypsies roasted on their make-shift grills on the sidewalks. They were hot and served in a newspaper cone, and my whole face would get black by the time I reached my University:) But nothing can compare with the combination of first freezing northern wind, and cold hands breaking open the hot chestnuts. And the flavor is so sweet and rich...
Thanks for the memory, Greg! I don't know if I should like you or hate you:) Just kidding! The soup sounds really amazing and if I manage to finagle some chestnuts somewhere in the balmy paradise, I would love to make it and eat it while Skyping (is this correct form?) with my fiends and family in Europe.
Not the purple velour!
Please don't tell me you that you are actually wearing puple velour! Personaly I don't care what season it is, soup is always the rage in my household and purple velour is always OUT.
yep
Purple velour Lacoste zippered pullover. I have had it since highschool. And I still rock it! GREG
Dead of winter here...
It was 76f and sunny yesterday, 70 at midnight and it will be freezing in the morning. Is it any wonder I'm confused and wearing swim trunks and a parka?
I will dive into any soup with big booty croutons like that!
Mighty tasty looking soup.
Mighty tasty looking soup. Winter was so fleeting this year...hardly any time to embrace these comfort foods.
I always find carrot soup so
I always find carrot soup so comforting. And the inclusion of chestnuts is really brilliant!
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