Linda Duffin (aka Mrs Portly) is a food writer, recipe developer and cookery school owner based in rural Suffolk. Each month she shares one of her delicious recipes
As Christmas approaches, with all the preparation and faff that tends to involve, it’s useful to have some quick and easy supper plans up your sleeve. Or tucked into your apron pocket, perhaps.
One is a sharing board. Here is one I made recently with smoked cheese and charcuterie sourced from Suffolk’s Artisan Smokehouse. Duck breast and beef carpaccio, Stilton and goat’s cheese and big fat olives, all smoked gently over maple wood, along with some cracking 1000-day aged Gouda. All you need to source are some nuts, fruit, salad and crackers. Arrange on a board or plate and away you go.
Cook at 180C/160f fan/Gas Mark 4 for about 20 minutes, or until oozy. You can criss-cross the top with a sharp knife and insert a few peeled cloves of garlic and sprigs of thyme for added flavour, maybe also some chopped roasted hazelnuts and a drizzle of honey. Cover loosely with foil during baking if the hazelnuts are browning too fast. Serve with pickles or salad and good bread or crackers and get dunking.
Both of these dishes work well with a warming soup to back them up. One of my favourites at this time of year is this woodsy chestnut and mushroom soup, tasting sweet and earthy by turns.
I used vac-packed ready-cooked chestnuts, but if you’d like to start from scratch and roast your own, heat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. Cut a cross with a sharp knife into the skin of each chestnut, place in a single layer in a roasting tin and bake until the chestnuts split and the insides are soft – around 30 minutes.
Peel off the outer and inner skins as soon as they’re cool enough to handle. If you let them get cold, they’re a nightmare. Trust me, been there, done that. About 450g of shell-on chestnuts should give you roughly 300g peeled weight.
Chestnut and mushroom soup recipe
Ingredients:
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 stick of celery, trimmed and chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely diced
250g chestnut mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped, one kept whole for garnish
300g vac-packed chestnuts, ready peeled and cooked
1 heaped tsp fresh thyme leaves, picked from the stems
2 tbsp olive oil
Up to 1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock, warmed
A handful of finely chopped parsley (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions and celery, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and fry gently until soft and golden. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two more. Now throw in the sliced mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have wilted, about five minutes.
Roughly chop the chestnuts and add to the pan with the thyme, stir well, then pour in 900ml of the warmed stock. Bring it to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the onions and celery are soft and the flavours have blended.
Remove from the heat and when it has cooled somewhat, pour into a liquidiser (you may have to do this in batches) or use a hand blender and whizz until you have the texture you prefer – I like it smooth, you may prefer to have some chunks of mushroom and chestnut.
Put the soup back into the cleaned pan and check the seasoning, adding the reserved stock if it’s too thick. Stir in the parsley, if using, and re-heat gently. Thinly slice the reserved raw mushroom and float a piece on top of each bowl, with a scattering of extra parsley.
Find out more about Mrs Portly’s Kitchen classes at mrsportlyskitchen.co.uk
