creamy hazelnut soup

Hazelnuts make me think of cool autumn days in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. The leaves are turning, the air is pungent, and squirrels scamper about, gathering up hazelnuts from the forest floor. I almost feel guilty taking any for myself. Fortunately, there are plenty to go around.

Those were fine days.

These days in sunny central Florida are also fine days. Another chapter, another page. And this rich and woodsy soup is delicious in any climate, in any season, and as an elegant start to any meal.

I initially crafted this as a dairy soup, using heavy cream and chicken-flavored broth. It was a bit too rich, so I replaced the cream with half and half and added a roux of flour and butter to achieve the thickness I was going for. It was perfect.

That said…this creamy hazelnut soup can be easily tweaked to work for those who don’t use dairy, or for a meat meal, by swapping out the half and half for hazelnut milk and the butter for vegan butter.

This soup is easier than ever to make, now that hazelnut flour is available commercially, but you can still do it the old fashioned way and grind the nuts yourself in a food processor. Just be sure to grind them as finely as you can, but stopping before they become a paste. Hazelnut butter is an altogether different thing.

creamy hazelnut soup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup hazelnuts, finely ground in a food processor, or use hazelnut flour/meal

• 3 cups chicken-flavored broth

• 1 cup half and half or hazelnut milk

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons butter (can use vegan butter)

• ¼  cup sweet onion , chopped

• 2 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped

• ¼  cup flour

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

• salt and pepper

• 2 scallions, thinly sliced (both white and green parts)

• Optional:

Method:

Set a large skillet over medium high heat, add the hazelnut meal, and cook, stirring, for about three minutes or so, just enough to develop a toasty flavor. Be careful not to let them darken or they may become bitter. Then set them aside.

In an 8 quart pot, sauté the onions until soft and translucent, then add the garlic and cook, stirring, for a few more minutes. Don’t let the aromatics brown.

In a separate sauce pan, heat the stock just until it starts to simmer, then remove it from the heat. Add the lemon juice and cover the pot to keep it hot.

Add the butter to aromatics, stirring until melted. Then add the flour and stir to combine it with the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes so that the flour loses its raw taste.

Whisk in the half and half slowly, then add the toasted hazelnut meal to the pot. Turn the heat to low and slowly whisk in the stock.

Bring the heat up to medium and whisk to thicken the soup—don’t let it boil.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a swirl of truffle oil on top of each bowl, if using, and finish with the sliced scallions on top.