Smoked Chestnut Soup
A holiday showstopper that will stun your guests. A perfect combination of sweet and smoky to kick off a special autumn or winter feast. Featuring smoked chestnuts and smoked pumpkin or butterkin squash with leeks, garlic, and just a touch of spice.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 5 cups smoked pumpkin or butterkin squash*
- 14 oz smoked chestnuts*
- 2 cups leeks chopped
- 1 tbsp Calabrian chilis in oil (optional, substitute red pepper flakes)
- 2 oz white wine
- 6 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 1/2 cups cooked fava beans (substitute cannellini beans if needed)
- 7 cups vegetable stock (or fava bean stock if cooking beans at home. See note)
- 2 tsp thyme
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In the bottom of a large pot heat oil over medium.
- Add chopped leeks and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add garlic and chilis and cook for 2 additional minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Add white wine and stir to deglaze the pan. Cook approximately 1 minute until most of the wine evaporates.
- Add remaining ingredients and bring to a low simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender. Process until smooth or desired consistency reached.
- Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
- Cooking Fava Beans: I like to use my Instapot to on the soup/broth setting at 10 minutes to cook beans. I use 1 cup of soaked fava beans and 8 cups of water. After beans are cooked, reserve the liquid for soup stock.
- Smoked Pumpkin Recipe
- Place prepared pumpkin pieces in a baking dish and coat with a bit of olive oil. I like to set my grill at about 250 degrees F and smoke the pumpkins for approximately 90 minutes.
- Smoked Chestnuts:
- Simply smoke the chestnuts with the pumpkins on the grill until browned but not crunchy.