Upon my first trip back to Trader Joe's after our honeymoon, I noticed chestnuts in the refrigerated section. They were roasted, peeled and ready to eat, which quite frankly is the only way I would buy chestnuts because well, I don't have an open fire. I brought them home, completely unsure of what I would do with them, and threw them into the back of the fridge.
Then, two nights ago, I decided I was going to make soup for dinner. Are you feeling the suspense yet? If you know me, you'll already know I'm a soup fanatic. I can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Especially breakfast though! I love breakfast soup. I also love that you can dump a lot of random stuff (like cheese rinds, or bay leaves or leftover chicken) into a pot with liquid and end up with a pretty delicious meal. Anyways, back to the task at hand.
I had these chestnuts and some dried porcini mushrooms and a head of cauliflower so I brought them all to my huge soup pot together for a little dinner party with olive oil and mirepoix and voila! I was really surprised by HOW good the soup was. It was a harmonious balance of toasted/nutty flavor from the chestnuts, umami from the shrooms and the Oscar for best supporting actor goes to my lady Cauli Flower. You'll need a Vitamix or a a really strong blender to get the soup silky-smooth. Ok you guys! That's all I got.
P.S: It only requires 6 ingredients not counting the basics so you can definitely make it in time for dinner tonight.
PrintCauliflower, Chestnut + Porcini Soup AKA Vegan Soup That Tastes Like Creamy Heaven
- Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 1 large pot of soup 1x
Description
An autumnal soup made with cauliflower, roasted chestnuts and porcini mushrooms
Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower florets
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt + pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup of mirepoix (diced carrot, celery, onion)
1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
6.5 oz cooked chestnuts
32 oz vegetable (or any) stock
Instructions
- Put a big soup pot on the stove and warm extra-virgin olive oil
- Once it's on a medium-high heat, add mirepoix and sauté for 10 minutes
- Add your cauliflower and continue to cook on medium-high until everything begins to brown, another 10-15 minutes
- Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg
- Add dry mushrooms and chestnuts, mix so everything is well combined
- Taste an onion to see if it has enough salt
- Add broth and bring the soup to a boil
- Immediately turn down the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook until the cauliflower is completely
- mushy (30-40 minutes)
- Pour soup into Vitamix or blender of choice and blend on a medium-high speed until creamy. I did this for 3 minutes.
- Now taste! If your soup is very watery, you can place it back on the stove for another 15 minutes post-blending. If it's too thick, add another splash of stock or water right into the blender to thin it out.
- Category: Soups
- Method: Stovetop/Blender
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: cauliflower soup, roasted chestnuts, porcini mushrooms
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