Recipe - Chestnut Soup With Amaretto

2 pound Chestnuts, fresh
2 Carrot
2 Parsnip
1 Onion, small
1 Garlic clove
2 Scallion
3 Celery stalk
4 tablespoon Butter
5 cup Brown stock
Bouquet garni
3 tablespoon Amaretto liqueur
1 cup Cream, heavy
Salt; to taste
Pepper, black; to taste
Cayenne pepper
Nutmeg

Make a slash in the rounded side of each chestnut and roast in a pre
heated 400 F. oven for 5 minutes. Peel off the shell and inner skin. Peel
the carrots, parsnip, onion, and garlic. Finely chop all of the vegetables,
including the scallions and celery. Melt the butter in a large saucepan
over medium heat. Add the vegetables and cook for five minutes, or until
soft but not brown. Add the chestnuts, stock, and bouquet garni. Gently
simmer the soup for 40 minutes, or until the chestnuts are very soft.

Remove the bouquet garni and puree the soup in a blender or food pro
cessor. Return the soup to the saucepan, adding the amaretto, two thirds
of the cream, and salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and nutmeg to taste; the
soup should be very flavorful. If a sweeter flavor is desired, add a
spoonful of brown sugar.

To serve, ladle the chestnut soup into warmed bowls. Pour a little of the
remaining cream into each bowl and marble it into the soup, stirring with a
skewer. Chestnut soup is extremely rich, so keep the rest of the meal
simple.

Washington Post

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini