Chestnut soup with bacon

Mmm, still steaming.

Wanting to make a soup that would feed both me, my son, a friend and her son, I decided to make this chestnut soup with bacon crumbles. It’s basically a mix of root vegetables, all fried up in garlic oil. Lentils and vegetable stock are then added and left to simmer before chestnuts and sherry are added. Up until this point the soup is veggie – but you then fry up some bacon (again in garlic oil) and add it, and parsley, to the soup. The fact that the basic soup was veggie was another reason it was appealing – it meant that when I made too much of it (which I inevitably did) my veggie husband could eat some of the remainder at a later date.

The soup, with the addition of bacon, was incredibly tasty. The problem was that without the bacon it did taste a little bland. The bacon gave it a little extra kick which was really needed. The friend  I shared this soup with suggested adding blue cheese to it, and after one serving without it (or of course the bacon), my hubby took this suggestion on board. He confirmed that blue cheese worked well, and with it the soup was a winner. One exciting thing for me here was discovering garlic oil – I’d never used it before, and it smells amazing! If you like garlic, that is.

Who made it: Anna

Recipe: Nigella Christmas, pg. 50-51