Pumpkin and chestnut cream soup with crispy bacon
Serves 4:
- 700-800 g of already cleaned pumpkin flesh cut into chunks
- 2 small to medium size potatoes, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 250-300 g chestnuts from a tin (the weight after draining)
- around 700 ml of vegetables stock * see below
- salt
- white pepper, you can of course use black pepper instead
- a pinch or two of nutmeg
- 2-3 table spoons of white wine vinegar (you can bring it to the boil first and then add to the soup at the very end)
- 8 thin rashers of bacon
- crumbled goat’s cheese
- fresh parsley for garnish
*To make the vegetable stock, fry for a couple minutes in olive oil 2 shallots, one carrot and a celery stalk roughly chopped and a bay leaf. Pour in a small glass of dry white wine and once it has almost evaporated add 700 ml of water. Cook on a low heat with the lid on for 20-30 minutes.
Heat up a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan, add the chopped onion and fry until it turns translucent. Now add the potatoes and after 2 minutes the pumpkin along with the chestnuts into the saucepan. Fry all together for next 5 minutes or so, give it a stir and cover with the stock.
Cook on a low heat with the lid on until the vegetables turn very soft, it should take about 25-30 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and puree the soup until it turns creamy and there are no lumps left.
Pour it back into the saucepan and gently cook for another 5-10 minutes adjusting the seasoning and adding some white wine vinegar.
In the meantime set the oven at 180 C.
Line a baking tray with a baking parchment. Neatly arrange the bacon rashers and cover them with another sheet of the baking parchment. Now place another tray or a large enough baking dish (a heavy one so it presses the bacon all the time) on top. Make sure that all the bacon rashers are evenly pressed.
Place the tray in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.
Once that time has passed take the tray out and take the extra weight off. The bacon rashers should have turned into flat and crispy long strips.
Pour the soup into individual serving dishes, arrange the crispy bacon on top, sprinkle with crumpled goat’s cheese and add fresh parsley leaves as a garnish.
