Chestnut and Apple Soup from Carole Fitzgerald at Lazy Sunday
Carole Fitzgerald has always been passionate about the kind of relaxed socialising around food that makes people happy.
She now runs the events catering business Lazy Sunday which specialises in creating relaxed, generous and wow-factor sharing style feasts for weddings, events and parties across Scotland.
Based in Fife, she also hosts One Long Table pop-up events that combine fabulous feasting with great surroundings and friends old and new.
This recipe for chestnut and apple soup beautifully bridges the gap between a rich casserole and a hearty soup: delicate meets robust as you get the subtle yet instantly recognisable hit of apple before an almost oxtail-y depth that will warm the cockles of your heart.
Serves 8
Ingredients
Knob of butter
500g of roasted peeled chestnuts (or cheat and use 500g of vacuum packed chestnuts.) plus three chestnuts, crumbled
2 cooking apples, peeled and chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp calvados
1 ltr good vegetable stock
2 tbsp lightly whipped cream
2 tbsp pomegranate seeds
Method
1 Sauté the chestnuts in the butter along with the apples, celery, onion and garlic.
2 After a couple of minutes, cover the lightly sautéed mixture with parchment paper (tucking it around the sides of the pan) and allow the nuts and vegetables to steam gently for about 10 minutes until softened.
3 Remove the parchment paper and add the calvados - you can flame it at this stage if you like, but it’s not essential.
4 Add the vegetable stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Blitz, taste for seasoning and add a little bit more vegetable stock if you like a slightly thinner soup.
Top with the whipped cream, pomegranate seeds and the crumbled chestnut.
In association with Taste Communications.
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