Mushroom and Chestnut Soup

Roses are red, violets are blue,

Chestnuts you're the best and I love you.

There are a few things in life that I'm what some people would call "obsessed" with. Chestnuts are one of them. Firstly, it's something that tastes christmassy yet is socially acceptable in October which I appreciate. But also, they just taste amazing and go with both sweet and savory dishes. They don't let society put them in a box, they just get along with the entire prepared food world and I admire that! Anyway, for me it wouldn't be autumn/winter without chestnuts, and what else goes well with a cold rainy Autumn day? Soup.

So that's why when I felt it was the ideal day for soup, I decided to make my favorite kind: mushroom and chestnut.

And there's not mushroom for failure in making this recipe...get it? Not great I know..

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Ingredients:

• 4 Red Onions

• 5 Cloves of Garlic

• 900g Mushrooms

• 1 Large Sweet Potato

• 200g Chestnut Purée (with no added sugar)

• 1 Vegetable Stock Cube

• Toppings: such as pumpkin seeds and whole chestnuts

• Salt & Pepper

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Method:

1. Start by doing a lot of peeling and chopping. Peel the sweet potato and cut into large chunks. Clean the mushroom by scrubbing them with kitchen roll to remove the dirt than slice them into 0.5cm slices. Peel the onion and cut into 1cm cubes (approximately, this is all getting mashed up anyway). Peel the garlic cloves and slice them thinly.

2. Sauté the mushroom and onions in a frying pan with olive oil. The aim of this is to get some color and caramelization, so the pan should be quite hot and make sure not to overcrowd the mushrooms (If you've seen the movie Julie and Julia, this is a classic quote) otherwise they won't brown. You might need to do this step in three separate batches. Season each batch with salt and pepper.

3. Gather the mushrooms and onions with the sweet potato, garlic and stock cube into a large sauce pan and cover with water.

4. Bring to a boil.

5. Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the sweet potato is cooked.

6. Blitz the ingredients with your preferred soup blending instrument, I personally use the plunger one.

7. Top with whole chestnuts and pumpkin seeds.