Chestnuts are underestimated. We all know and love them roasted, but how about a hot, sweet and warming bowl of chestnut soup? I bought some frozen chestnuts for my Christmas turkey stuffing but the bag was too big to use all of them only for the stuffing. So, let's make together a wintery Chestnut and mushroom zelidecious soup!

Ingredients for 10 to 12 servings:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 diced white onion 
• 1 diced carrot
• 3 cloves of garlic 
• 1/3 diced celery root (around 200-300 gr.)
• 500 gr. frozen chestnuts (or freshly roasted and out of shell)
• 200 gr. diced mushrooms (I used Portobello but any kind works fine)
• leaves from 3-4 thyme springs
• 3 L boiling water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 50 gr. butter

For the crunchy pumpkin seeds topping:

• 100 gr. raw pumpkin seeds
• sprinkle of sea salt flakes

Method:

1. Boil 3 L of water in a boiler or in a pot over the stove.
2. Bring a large pot to high heat and put the olive oil, diced onion, carrot, garlic cloves and celery root. Sautee for 2-3 min., stirring every few seconds.
3. Add the 3L boiling water over the vegetables and leave to boil 15 min.
4. Add to the pot the chestnuts and the mushrooms. Pick the leaves from 3-4 thyme spring and put them in the soup, add salt and pepper to taste and leave to boil for another 15 min. 
5. Meanwhile, prepare the crunchy pumpkin seeds: put the seeds in a non stick pan and sprinkle some sea salt flakes. Bring to a medium heat and let fry until golden brown, by moving the seeds in the pan every few seconds, so they won't burn. Don't add oil or butter, there is no need, you will have delicious crunchy bites without any additional fat. They should be reading in about 5 min.
6. Close the heat and pull the soup pot aside. Blend the soup with a hand/stand blender and transfer back into the pot. Add the butter and stir to combine. Taste to see if more salt or pepper is needed and serve steaming hot with the crunchy pumkpin seeds and crusty bread. Enjoy!