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Potage, Clothilde

Slit twenty-four large Italian chestnuts, place on a tin and roast in the oven for fifteen minutes. Remove and shell them with a coarse towel place in a large saucepan with one ounce chopped lean salt pork, two sliced leeks, one minced onion, four branches parsley, one branch chervil, two bay leaves and one clove. Moisten with two and a half quarts hot white broth or water. Cover the pan and let gently boil for one hour, strain the broth into a basin, place the chestnuts and vegetables in a mortar, pound to a smooth paste and return the paste to the broth. Mix in the same saucepan one ounce butter and one and a half ounces flour, place on the fire for two minutes, then pour the broth with the chestnuts into this saucepan; mix well and let boil for twenty-five minutes. Peel and cut in julienne strips two small parsnips, place in a small saucepan with half ounce butter, half teaspoon salt, half teaspoon sugar and one gill water: mix a little, cover the pan, set in oven for twenty-five minutes, remove and keep hot. Add two gills cream to the soup, mix well and let boil for five minutes, strain the soup through a sieve into a basin, then through a cheesecloth into a soup tureen. Add the parsnips, with a few bits of butter, gently mix, and serve with two ounces of grated Parmesan cheese separately.