Minestra di castagne

This morning I woke up and went to the bathroom... then in the kitchen and prepare breakfast... put a CD of Laura Pausini... preparing all ingredients for making an apple cake. Then I looked outside and I saw a lot of snow, it was so beautiful! I love watching the snowflakes falling down, even if this morning it was more like a snow storm... and -3C.

With this kind of weather it is nice to eat something warm and filling... like a soup or a minestra. I remembered I had 2 packages of dry chestnuts in my cupboard. I bought then in Italy few months ago and waited the right time to use then. Today was definitely the right time to make chestnuts minestra. This is a dish that my aunt loves to make winter... and she would make a lot so she could bring some to my parents and us, her three niece and nephews.

I remember the times when I was coming home from university and for dinner there was this delicious minestra... the exsclamations was always the same: "la zia ha fatto la minestra di castagne!" (= aunty has made chestnuts minestra). I like this minestra but I have to tell you it has a very special taste, it is a very creamy minestra with a strong taste of chestnuts... either you like it a lot or you hate it.

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For this recipe you can use either fresh chestnuts or dry chestnuts. Here in Sweden unfortunately it is very difficult to find chestnuts... so I have used the dry chestnuts that I took with me from Italy.
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Here is the recipe...
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