Roasted Chestnut Bisque Recipes

Steps:

• Place a Dutch oven over low heat. Add the butter and melt. Add the celery, onion and garlic and sweat until tender and translucent, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add the stock, chestnuts, sherry, heavy cream, bay leaf and thyme, bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the chestnuts are very tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
• In the meantime, whisk together the creme fraiche and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl until combined. Set aside for garnish.
• Remove the thyme sprig and bay leaf from the soup. Carefully transfer the soup to a blender and puree on high speed until very smooth (raise the speed of the blender gradually and leave the lid ajar to allow the steam to escape). Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, thinning with more heavy cream as desired and a splash of the sherry. Serve warm, garnished with the spiced creme fraiche.

Steps:

• Cut off the roots and tough green tops of the leeks. Peel away the coarse outer layers of each leek, split down to the root end, and wash the inner leaves thoroughly to remove any grit. Chop the leeks into 1/2 inch pieces.
• In a large saucepan, heat the butter over medium high heat. Add the leeks and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, or until they are softened but not browned. Add the stock, chestnuts, and carrot and simmer for about 18 minutes, or until the chestnuts and carrot are tender.
• In the container of a blender or a food processor fitted with metal chopping blade, process the soup until smooth. Return the mixture to the pan and stir in the cream, Marsala, pepper, and nutmeg. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Serve in warmed soup bowls topped with a dollop of sour cream.
• *To roast chestnuts in the oven, preheat the oven to 400°F With a sharp knife, make an X-shaped cut on the flat side of each shell or prick each shell with the tines of a fork. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. When the chestnuts are just cool enough to handle, shell them and remove the inner brown skins. (Using a dish towel helps.).
• If you really want to get into the spirit of the season and "roast them on an open fire," position the chestnuts at the edge of the fire near the glowing coals. Let them roast for about 10 minutes, turning frequently, until you hear them "pop." Remove them from the coals let cool slightly, then remove the shells. (The dish towel is really valuable here as there is often ash on the chestnuts.).

Steps:

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

Steps:

• Heat your oven to 400 degrees (Fahrenheit).
• While the oven is warming up, using a paring knife, very carefully cut an "X" across the flattest surface of each chestnut. Be sure to pierce the shell, but don't push too hard to rush yourself, or you may slip with the knife.
• On a pan with raised edges (or a cookie sheet with some aluminum foil -shiny side up- crimped to form raised edges, on it) place the chestnuts, "X"-side up. Place them in the heated oven. Roast for 20-30 minutes.
• Keep an eye on the chestnuts. You will know they are done when most of them have peeled back along the "X"-marks, opening up like the petals of a flower just a tiny bit to expose the meat of the nut, inside. (In my oven, this takes about 23 minutes; get used to your oven's quirks the first few times you try roasting your own chestnuts.).
• Remove the chestnuts and cover them with aluminum foil, shiny-side down. Leave them like this for 10-15 minutes to steam. This will help loosen the shells and skins, inside.
• Remove the aluminum foil and, carefully (they will still be hot; you may need to wear gloves or use oven mitts) peel the shells away. Be sure to get the brown skins underneath as well. Sometimes, half the shell will come away and you can just pop the meat out in one piece. Other times you will have to use a small fork to gently coax the meat of the chestnut, out.
• Once the chestnuts have been shelled, melt a tablespoon of unsalted butter in a skillet over medium-low heat.
• Once the butter starts to brown, add the chestnuts and season with a pinch of salt. Saute the relatively pale meat of the chestnuts this way until they brown on the edges and their aroma (already strong from their time in the oven) is even more intense.
• Remove the chestnuts from the skillet and place them in a blender. Finely grind them on a low setting using slow, steady pulses until you have a mealy pile of pieces.
• Add the chicken broth to the blender, cover, and puree until smooth. NOTE: If you prefer, this recipe works nicely with vegetable stock instead of chicken but seems to work best with root vegetables in the stock (turnips, onions, parsnips, etc -- ) Use your best judgment and your own favorite when substituting!
• Push the liquid, slowly, through a fine-mesh sieve in batches, using a rubber spatula to gently coax the liquid through while preventing any remaining pieces of shell from getting into your final product. The resulting liquid will be fairly thick and light brown. This is your roast chestnut soup base.
• Cut the carrot, half onion, and celery into a small dice.
• In a skillet over medium heat, melt two tablespoons of butter. Saute the carrot, onion, and celery in this butter, but also season with salt and pepper.
• After the vegetables soften, add a teaspoon -each- of Spanish paprika and herbs de provence. Stir them into the vegetables and coat, thoroughly. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
• Peel and de-vein the shrimp, saving the shells and tails. Chop the meat from the shrimp into small pieces, season with a pinch of salt, and add them to the skillet with the vegetables and herbs. Saute until the shrimp meat is opaque.
• Dice the two tomatoes into cubes and add them to the skillet with the shrimp. Cook until the tomatoes start to fall apart. Remove from the heat.
• In a pot with a tight-fitting lid, bring the three cups of chicken broth to a simmer and add the reserved shrimp shells and tails. Cover over low heat and simmer for 45 minutes. This will infuse the broth with the flavor of the shrimp.
• Once the broth is done simmering, remove from the heat and take out the shrimp shells and discard them. Pour the broth into your blender. Add the vegetables and shrimp to the blender and puree until as smooth as possible.
• Strain the liquid to remove thick chunks. NOTE: For this, you may need a strainer with slightly larger holes than you did for the chestnuts.
• Return the strained liquid to pot on the stove and whisk in the roast chestnut soup base over medium heat. Stir, lightly, until it reaches a simmer.
• Serve, hot.