Mushroom & Chestnut Soup

Yesterday I posted a recipe, using chestnut cream, which I made from chestnut puree, soy cream, rosemary, salt and pepper. The Brussels Sprout & Chestnut Bake recipe didn't use all the chestnut cream and so I made a gorgeous and rich mushroom soup with the remainder. Now, this soup is very rich and you won't need a lot, just the ticket for a sample Christmas day starter.

Ingredients

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 Clove of garlic, finely chopped

150g Chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped

1 Tbsp mushroom ketchup

2 Tsp Porcini powder

Chestnut cream

200ml water

1 Tsp Vegetable bouillon powder

Method

Fry the onion and garlic in a little rapeseed oil until the onion is translucent. Add the mushrooms and fry for another 5 minutes. 

Add the mushroom ketchup and porcini powder and give the mixture another stir.

Add the chestnut cream and stir again.

Dissolve the bouillon powder into the water and stir to combine. Add to the mushroom mixture slowly until the mixture resembles thick cream.

Transfer to a liquidiser and blend until smooth. Return to a pan and heat through.

Brussels Sprout & Chestnut Bake

Christmas is getting closer and closer and I can't believe how unprepared I am in the food department! I started jotting down ideas just after Vegan Mofo but I've not had the time to get around to taking those ideas and creating a recipe! But this last weekend I decided enough was enough and I took to the kitchen to get creative and I had a ball! The Christmas music was playing, there was dancing and merriment and above all, recipes created. Christmas is on its way........

The first recipe I want to share with you is my Brussels sprout and mushroom bake.

My gardening angel gave me a Brussels Sprout tree, which had been staring at me for a couple of days, teasing me, saying "use me to creative some Christmas magic". Personally, I don't think you can get more Christmassy than a Brussels Sprout! Now, we all know that sprouts and chestnuts go extremely well together but did you know that sprouts and mushrooms also have a marriage made in heaven! Well, you do now.

Ingredients
1 Brussels sprout tree
250g Chestnut mushrooms
1 Can of chestnut puree
250ml vegan single cream
1 Rosemary twig
Salt & pepper
100g Seeded bread
2 Tsp Garlic granules
1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast

Method
First thinly slice the sprouts, I used my food processor and the slicing blade as it would take me ages to do this by hand.

Spray an oven proof dish lightly with oil, and scatter half of the sprouts in the bottom.

Next thinly slice the mushrooms and arrange half of them on top of the sprouts. Finish with another layer of sprouts and another layer of mushrooms.

Next prepare the chestnut cream. Empty the chestnut puree into a saucepan and brake up over a very low heat, careful you don't burn it. It just need to be warmed through. Add the cream and stir to combine. Remove the rosemary leaves from the stem and finely chop, add to the chestnut cream with some salt and pepper. Keep stirring over a low heat until the mixture is warmed through. Take 8 table spoons of the chestnut cream and put in a jug, add 80ml of warm water and whisk to a smooth cream. Pour over the sprouts and mushrooms. If you like your bake to be 'saucy' double the quantities of the chestnut cream so you use 16 tablespoons and 160ml of warm water.

Tear the bread into the food processor and blitz to a fine breadcrumb. Add the onion granules and nutritional yeast and blitz to combine. Scatter the breadcrumbs over the top of the chestnut cream. Depending on your crust preferences you may use all of the breadcrumbs or not. If you have any left over you can easily make a stuffing or bread sauce!

Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are golden and the vegetables cooked. Some of you may have noticed that I never put the temperature of my oven this is because I've used it that much the numbers have 'rubbed' off! So it's a guess every time I cook!

Serve the bake with all your favourite Christmas trimmings and an onion gravy, which is what I did but I forgot to take a photo!

Tomorrow, I'll share with you what I did with the remaining chestnut cream..........