For French Friday with Dorie this week, we were set a challenge that is difficult to achieve on the verge of summer (though you'd never know it with the crappy weather in Melbourne at present) - chestnut and pear soup. Chestnuts are not common in Australia, even in winter, so to obtain some at this time of year would have required some serious detective work. However, I did have a can of chestnut puree in the cupboard that I had had forever, bought at a time when every second Tuesday with Dorie recipe seemed to require it. So, I reasoned, given that the chestnuts had to be cooked until they were mashable, let's skip that and use chestnuts that are already mashed.
I made a half recipe and cooked it for only 30 minutes, given that I didn't have to worry about cooking down the chestnuts, and added a dollop of yoghurt to the top of the finished product. The soup looks like all the other soups I have made out of this book - brown and thick with black flecks. It tasted good, but given the scarcity of chestnuts here, and the fact that I am not a huge soup fan, it probably won't be a repeat.
To see what all the other Dorie cooks thought, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website.
19 comments:
I had to go cupboard scrounging as well. I don't know why I had chestnut puree, but I wasn't going to spend too much timing figuring it out.
Yes, this soup was good, but a little off putting in color.
I like the idea of this soup - chestnut and pear sounds like a great combination - but agree that in Australia, it is perhaps not ideal. I think you made the right decision to use already processed chestnuts though!
I cooked chestnuts once and vowed never again - a tin in the cupboard sounds preferable - this soup sounds lovely and just perfect for this weather - you would think it was winter
I'm saving this recipe to try for sure!!
I used frozen chestnuts (pre-cooked too).. but my soup came out a different color compared to yours! The two of us at home enjoyed this!
Curious whether the purée was sweetened or not? Good for you for having that on hand - it's amazing what you can find in the pantry if you really look!
I love the darker hue of your soup...must be from the chestnut puree! I was surprised how much I liked this one.
Its unlikely I would ever have chestnuts laying around the house but I liked this one well enough that I just might have to do so now.
Amazing that you had the puree… glad you got a chance to use it. I hate things gathering dust in my cupboard.
This soup was ok. I loved the idea of pear and chestnuts but the flavor combination just didn't do it for me.
I had to order the chestnuts. They are hard to find here, too.
Ah, so that's the color the soup is supposed to be! Looks great!
The color of yours does seem more appealing then some of the other entrees. I've become quite curious about this soup after seeing so many of the entrees. I may need to find me some chestnuts or puree!
The weather is chilly here to but unlike you, we are approaching winter, UG...
Thanks for sharing, Cakelaw...
I seem to have one of those bottomless, magical pantries as well, though I had to buy chestnuts for this one. Fortunately, it's the right time of year for them where I am. This soup definitely tasted much better than it looked. Glad you liked it. Hope the weather improves so it feels like summer.
Kathy used the purée also and made a soup that she liked very much. I do think it would be pretty difficult to make this soup and enjoy it when it's not the proper season for it. It's cold and snowing here. The ski slopes open tomorrow so a soup like this is perfect. Yours looks lovely in your pretty bowl.
You are so right about our soups being thick and brown! Explains why there aren't always pictures, doesn't it? Here in Oklahoma all I could find were bottled chestnuts and they were expensive! I think puree is a great idea!
I used an unsweetened chestnut puree in mine…I had it in my pantry. It worked well and was delicious! Yours looks lovely!
Well played with that chestnut puree. I wish I had something on hand but was at least happy I could find them in the grocer easily. Not that they were inexpensive but for FFWD we tend to splurge a bit. Love the deep color you ended up with. Mine was very "drab" in appearance but I was surprised at how much we did enjoy the soup.
Your Chestnut-Paer Soup has a wonderful rich, brown color and looks quite wonderful presented in that very pretty soup bowl with stripes and flowers! We are lucky with respect to chestnuts around here, so that makes cooking and baking with them much easier than in other parts of the world!
We've got rainy, cold weather too! I sometimes forget that we're supposed to be in spring-almost summer! I'd love a bowl of this :D
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