Chestnut Bisque

Submitted by mollypaul

"Elegant start to a lovely dinner."

 

• Ready In: 40mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
• 1⁄2 onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 lb fresh chestnuts, peeled
• 3 cups chicken bouillon
• 1⁄4 cup apple juice
• 1⁄4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried tarragon
• nonfat sour cream (optional) or yogurt (optional)

directions

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add carrots, onion, and celery, and saute until soft, about 7 minutes.
3. Add chestnuts and continue cooking 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add stock and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to simmer and add apple juice, parsley, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
6. Simmer 15 minutes.
7. Add tarragon and continue cooking 5 minutes.
8. Puree the soup in a blender.
9. Return to saucepan and reheat.
10. Adjust seasonings as needed.
11. Serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream, if desired.

Reviews

[Akita]

Umm yum yum. Where I live, chestnuts are imported, expensive and def not to be wasted in less-than-delicious recipes. This soup combines many flavors and I was surprised how well it worked. I will definetely be making this again as a starter. Adaptions: Vegetable stock instead of chicken, dried celery and parsley instead of fresh. Fresh tarragon instead of dried. The dish could have looked fresher -came out beige (the only reason I am not rating 5star). I will add some red pepper next time to improve the color.

 

[basya]

Delcious! I used vegetable stock instead of chicken bouillon, and had no tarragon, so I used zaatar, wild oregano. I love pureed soups, and the flavor combination in this one was great. I served the soup with the dollop of yogurt, and home made flat bread. While the youngest of the troops weren't too enthusiastic (they don't like pureed soups), the rest of us had seconds.