Wild Mushroom and Chestnut Soup

The rich flavour of this soup belies the simplicity of the recipe, the sofrito, dried porcini and pre-cooked chestnuts are all available in good supermarkets. Considering the creamy texture it is relatively low in fat. I was staring at the chestnuts left over from the Christmas festivities when I decided to create a soup recipe in order to use them up, mushroom seemed the most obvious other ingredient.

For this recipe you will need;
1 tablespoon of sofrito click here for the recipe
(use a commercial brand if you don't fancy making it yourself)
1 large banana shallot or a medium sized onion, chopped
100g of dried porcini mushrooms
200g of roasted chestnuts, peeled (available in vacuum packs)
1 litre of vegetable stock
100ml of double cream
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of Noilly Prat
White pepper

Begin by frying the shallot/onion and sofrito gently in the oil for 4 or 5 minutes. Add the dried porcini mushrooms, I know, they always tell you to soak them but believe me, this recipe doesn't require that. Add the Noilly Prat and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the chestnuts and vegetable stock and simmer gently with a lid on the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. Blend the soup in small batches, being careful as hot liquids always expand rather dramatically in a blender. Stir in the cream and adjust the seasoning and add plenty of freshly ground white pepper. Strain through a fine sieve and reheat before serving. Serve with a little white truffle oil.

Notes:
I don't often strain blended soups but the skins on the chestnuts are far too fiddly to remove and very easy to sieve out.