If you are looking for a special occasion soup that your guest will never forget, this is it!
Porcini Chestnut Soup with White Truffle Oil
This is a sumptuous, umami laden soup perfect in the fall with fresh Chestnuts, or with vacuum packed ones through the winter. The recipe is also designed for the Thermomix machine.
Ingredients
- 10 g dried Porcini (or local dried Alberta Mushrooms from Mo-Na's Foods)
- 1/2 cup boiling water for hydrating dried Porcini
- 30 g extra virgin olive oil (my favourite local oil remains the President's Choice Brand from Superstore)
- 1 onion , chopped roughly
- 2 plump garlic cloves
- 500 g whole Cremini mushrooms , chopped
- 200 g vacuum packed chestnuts , chopped (available locally at The Italian Centre)
- 700 g cooking liquid (homemade chicken stock plus Porcini rehydrating liquid)
- 100 g heavy cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- white truffle oil for garnish (available locally at The Italian Centre)
Instructions
Instructions with the Thermomix:
-
Scale 10g of Porcini mushrooms, soak them in 1/2 cup of boiling water for 10 minutes, and retain liquid
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Scale in the olive oil and add the onion and garlic; chop for 5 seconds at speed 7
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Clean sides of bowl with the spatula; sauté for 2 minutes at 100°C on speed 5
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Scale in chopped Cremini and sauté for 2 minutes at 100°C on R-4
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Scale in chestnuts, reconstituted minced Porcini, strained Porcini water and chicken stock to total 700g liquid; cook for 10 minutes on Varoma at speed R-4
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Purée for one minute slowly from 1-10, until smooth
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Add cream, adjust seasoning and serve with a drizzle of truffle oil (2-3 drops per boil, as it is very strong)
Instructions without the Thermomix:
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Weigh 10g of Porcini mushrooms, soak them in 1/2 cup of boiling water for 10 minutes, and retain liquid
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Measure 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a stock pan and heat; add the chopped onion and garlic
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Sauté for 2 minutes, stirring constantly; add the chopped Cremini and sauté for 2 minutes more minutes on high heat
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Add chopped chestnuts, reconstituted minced Porcini, strained Porcini water and enough chicken stock to total 700g liquid; bring to a low boil and cook for 10 minutes
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Test for doneness, then carefully move mixture to a blender: secure lid with a cloth over the top to avoid heat explosions or burns
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Purée for one minute slowly, or until velvety smooth
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Add cream, adjust seasoning and serve with a drizzle of truffle oil (2-3 drops per boil, as it is very strong)
Recipe Notes
Truffle Oils are always essences: the oil is flavoured artificially. Small Italian Artisan producers do infuse their own oil, but it is not available for export and tastes very different than the ones we pay so dearly for in Italy and at home.
ThermomixB"‹logger Helene at ... says
OH MY WORD VALERIE !!! Your soup is OUTSTANDING. I am salivating all over the keyboard here. This is fantastic. BRAVO. I want some! You are so smart to have brought back Porcini mushrooms from Firenze. I am so very envious. Great photos. Thank you so much for this post!
Heather, Mmm... is for Mommy says
Oh my goodness Valerie, thanks for sharing this with the contest, or I might not have found it. I adore mushroom soup, even though it isn’t very pretty. Your recipe sounds awesome!
Michelle says
This is a truly outstanding looking soup. I can just smell and taste it as you describe it. I wish I had some truffle oil, but its not in our budget at the moment, so I am just going to have to come up with something else 🙂 Thanks for sharing Valerie.
Valerie says
Hey, Michelle!
I do not understand why truffle oil is so expensive when it is just an artificial essence. Talk about making the most of the market! I got a nice sized bottle – or artisan infused oil – the real deal, in Italy this fall. Still have to do a comparative taste test. It was 10 Euro, which was cheap considering it was 3 times the size of the one I bought the year before that was fake and 20 Euro. The bottles at the Italian Centre Shop are very reasonably priced considering their size – too big, really. Enough oil in them for a life time. A tiny bottle would last a year or more and comfortably cost ten Canadian if anyone would do that for us! The soup is grand without the finishing oil – but, it is definitely the cream on the strawberry shortcake… essential to the overall impact.
🙂
V
Yasmin Power says
Would love to make this could you use chestnut puree instead of chopped chestnuts thanks
Valerie Lugonja says
Yasmin,
I would check out your neighbourhood Italian grocer for the vacuum packed chestnuts. The puree is markedly different.
🙂
Valerie