Ingredients
Serves 8 / or less, with leftovers
60 grams – unsalted butter
2 large onions, chopped
1 cs / 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
1k / 2lbs mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
4 CS / 4 tbsp – cognac
400g of chestnuts
2 small or 1 large potato peeled & cut into cubes
Small bunch of thyme, tied
2 bay leafs
Heavy cream or creme fraiche
Salt / pepper to taste
50-100g of hazelnuts for toasting to top the soup (optional)
Preparation
1- Prepare your mise en place (prepare all your ingredients.) Clean and cut up your mushrooms into quarters or any way that is easy for you. Peel and cut up your onions. Peel and cut up your potatoes. Tie up your small bunch of thyme.
2- Melt your butter in the soup pot on medium-high heat and add your chopped onions. Cook your onions through and then allow to brown (you may have to adjust your heat during this process so that the onions don’t burn.)
* by putting the lid on, you can accelerate the softening process as the lid will create a steam that softens the onions quicker. Do this for about 10-15mins checking to ensure they don’t burn
3- Once your onions start to brown, deglaze them with the apple cider vinegar and allow them to come back to a brown. You can repeat this step a few more times with water to build flavor. You can also skip further deglazing.
4- Add in your mushrooms and allow them to cook down for about 10 minutes. You may want to add a bit of water, a few tbsp just to keep some moisture in the pot.
5- Add your cognac and flambee. Add your chestnuts, cubed potato, thyme and bay leaves. Fill your soup pot with water until all of your ingredients are submerged. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 25-35 minutes until your potatoes are cooked through. Test them with a sharp knife.
6- Meanwhile, roughly chop up your hazelnuts. Toast them on a medium heat pan until they are browned and smell delicious. Be mindful not to walk away, they burn quickly!
*please note that this step is optional. I do this for guests, but for an at home family dinner, I skip it.
7- Transfer your soup to a blender and then put it back into your pot. You will most likely have to blend in batches. Blend your soup any way that works best for you (immersion blender, food processor etc.) For me, the blender renders the smoothest outcome.
8- Once your soup is blended and back in the soup pot, add your cream fraiche, heavy cream or whatever your choice of dairy/non dairy is. Taste and adjust for salt. Adjust for thickness. If it’s too thick for your taste, add water to thin it out to the thickness you like.
9- If you feel it needs a touch of additional acidity (I always do) I add a dash of fresh lemon juice. Go easy! No going back but you can always add more. Enjoy!
Step 1
Gather all ingredients. Butter, onions, mushrooms, chestnuts, thyme, bay, potatoes, apple cider vinegar, cognac, creme fraiche, hazelnuts.
Melt your butter in a soup pot on a medium heat.
Roughly cut up your onions and add them to your melted butter for softening.
To speed up the softening process, cover your onions. The steam will help soften them quicker.
Meanwhile, prepare your mushrooms. In France, it is common that mushrooms have the dirt on the bottom. Cut it off.
After cutting the bottom off, use a dry towel or soft brush to brush off any dirt on your mushroom caps.
It does take some prep to get your mushrooms ready. To skip this step, buy prepared mushrooms in big supermarket. Some farmers market stands have them prepared too.
About 10 minutes later take off your lid so that your softened onions can now start to brown.
When your onions have browned, add in your vinegar. In this photo I have already added the vinegar and I scraped the bottom the pan with a wooden spatula to make sure any crusty bits are incorporated.
Shake your pot to spread back out your onions for a second deglazing. Allow the vinegar to burn off and your onions to caramelize again before adding in some water.
While your onions are caramelizing again, cut up your mushrooms any way you want.
For your second deglaze, use a few tablespoons of water.
Add 1/2 of your mushrooms and allow them to cook down a bit, you can do the lid trick again to speed up the process. Once they cook a bit, add your cognac and flambee.
Roughly chop up your chestnuts.
Tie up your branches of thyme. This is simply so you don't have to go fishing for branches.
After flambeeing, add in your potatoes, thyme, bay leaves, chestnuts and remaining mushrooms.
Cover, bring to a boil and simmer for 25-35 minutes until your potatoes are cooked through.
Prepare your hazelnuts. I start by crushing them with the side of my knife to ease the chopping process.
Crushed they look like this. If you like the size/texture, go ahead and skip the chop.
I like to chop mine to about this size.
On a medium skillet, brown your nuts. Be super mindful not to walk away, they will burn quickly! Move them around with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Once your soup is cooked. Remove your bay leaves and thyme before blending.
If using a blender, you'll have to blend in batches.
Make certain your soup is really smooth before adding back into your soup pot.
Add in your creme friache and then taste for salt and acidity adjustment. Use some fresh lemon juice for acidity.
Serve topped with your toasted hazelnuts. Enjoy!
Here is an elegant soup to follow you through the fall and winter months. It’s rich and tasty yet simple. I usually save this soup for special occasions or when I have guests. This is a great recipe to practice your intuitive cooking as the ingredients can happily be adjusted to better fit your palette (more/less chestnuts, more/less cognac, no cognac at all, substitute sherry for cognac, cream, yogurt or no cream etc.. )
