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Potage, Italienne

Split one pound Italian chestnuts, place on a tin and set in oven for twenty-five minutes. Remove with a coarse towel, shell and peel, then place in saucepan with a half gill white wine, pint broth, half teaspoon salt and three saltspoons pepper. Cover pan, let gently boil for forty minutes, press through sieve into a bowl and keep hot. Finely slice a carrot, onion, two leeks, a branch celery, two ounces raw lean ham, place in a saucepan with an ounce butter and gently brown for ten minutes, stirring frequently meanwhile. Then pour in a quart fresh (or canned) ripe tomatoes, two quarts water, a sprig thyme, two bay leaves, two cloves, a crushed bean garlic, two teaspoons salt, a teaspoon sugar and half teaspoon pepper; gently mix, then let slowly boil for one and a half hours. Strain soup through sieve into a basin, then through Chinese strainer into a saucepan, add chestnut puree, sharply mix with whisk and boil for ten minutes.

Knead on a plate a half ounce butter with an ounce flour and add little by little to soup, sharply mixing while adding it. Place fresh croutons and pour potage into a soup tureen and serve.