Velouté de châtaignes
An autumn soup from the Ardèche, France's chestnut country, where chestnuts replaced bread for centuries. Sweetish and nutty, with a velvety body that comes from the chestnuts' own starch — no flour. The key is balance: the chestnuts' sweetness must be cut with something salty and smoky, hence the crisp bacon on top. Without it the soup is pleasant but one-dimensional.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Vegetables 10 min
- Cooking with chestnuts 20 min
- Blending 10 min
- Bacon 8 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoften the onion, leek and celery in butter
Melt the butter and sweat the onion, leek and celery 8 minutes over low heat, until soft and glassy, without colour. Browned vegetables darken the soup and add a bitter edge that drowns the delicate chestnuts.
Ingredients: 400 g chestnuts · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs leek · 1 pcs celery · 30 g butter · 1000 ml chicken stock · 3 pcs thyme · 1 pcs bay leaf
Add the chestnuts and stock
Add the peeled chestnuts, thyme and bay, pour in the stock and simmer 15–20 minutes, until the chestnuts are completely soft and begin to fall apart.
Ingredients: 400 g chestnuts · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs leek · 1 pcs celery · 30 g butter · 1000 ml chicken stock · 3 pcs thyme · 1 pcs bay leaf
Until the chestnuts fall apart — they thicken the soup.Prepare the topping
Dice the bacon into 1 cm cubes and crumble the six chestnuts from the topping group into coarse pieces. Do not take them from the pot — chestnuts cooked soft in the soup would fall apart in the pan instead of toasting crisp and contrasting with the smooth soup.
Ingredients: 100 g smoked bacon · 6 pcs chestnuts · 1 tsp thyme leaves
Blend to velvet smoothness
Remove the thyme and bay and blend 2–3 minutes, until completely smooth. For perfect silkiness push it through a sieve too — chestnuts have fibrous skins that survive even long blending.
Ingredients: 400 g chestnuts · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs leek · 1 pcs celery · 30 g butter · 1000 ml chicken stock · 3 pcs thyme · 1 pcs bay leaf
Blender, then sieve — the chestnut skins remain.Add the cream and season
Pour in the cream, keeping 2 tbsp for garnish, heat without boiling and season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg. It should be thick but pourable, like thin yogurt. If too thick, loosen with stock — chestnuts thicken as they stand.
Ingredients: 150 ml whipping cream (30%) · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp white pepper · 1 pinch nutmeg
Crisp the bacon and chestnuts
In a dry pan render the bacon 6 minutes until crisp, adding the crumbled chestnuts for the last 2. Chestnuts toasted in bacon fat gain a crisp skin and smoky aroma.
Ingredients: 100 g smoked bacon · 6 pcs chestnuts · 1 tsp thyme leaves
Chestnuts in bacon fat — crisp and smoky.Ladle out and garnish
Ladle into warm bowls, drizzle with a little cream and scatter with the bacon, chestnuts and thyme leaves. A salty, crisp top on a velvety, sweetish soup is the whole idea.
Ingredients: 100 g smoked bacon · 6 pcs chestnuts · 1 tsp thyme leaves
Serve at once
Serve immediately while the bacon is crisp. In France velouté de châtaignes is also served in small cups as a starter before a festive dinner — then it stretches to eight.
Ingredients: 100 g smoked bacon · 6 pcs chestnuts · 1 tsp thyme leaves
Before you start
Vacuum-packed chestnuts
Peeling fresh chestnuts is an hour's work. Cooked, peeled chestnuts sold vacuum-packed or in jars give an almost identical result. Avoid chestnuts in syrup — they are sweetened.
The vegetarian version
Instead of bacon top with toasted pumpkin seeds and a drop of hazelnut oil, and use vegetable stock. The smoky contrast goes, but the nutty chestnut note remains.
Three days in the fridge
The soup keeps three days and thickens overnight. Loosen with stock when reheating. Always make the bacon and chestnut topping fresh.
