Hazelnut Cream Soup

This one's from La Tienda

"A light starter with an original flavor. The smoothness of the cream contrasts with the texture of the chopped hazelnut garnish."

Jared and I want to go to Spain more than anywhere else in the world right now. We have been talking about it since we were dating and one day, hopefully sooner than later, we will go and love it. Our budget right now, however, doesn't have a "Spain" section so, I improvised.

I was in charge of one of our date nights and I decided that we were finally going to go to Spain. I made quite a spread of Spanish food and we had so much fun. It wasn't even close to the real thing but we got a little taste (ha ha pun intended!) of our dream vacation.

This was the appetizer, and it was a GREAT start to a very fun evening!

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:

• 4 1/4 cups chicken stock
• 3.5 oz hazelnuts
• 3 leeks
• 1/2 onion
• 6 tbsp oil
• Salt and pepper
• 4 tbsp single cream
• Chives and chopped hazelnuts for decoration

Roast the hazelnuts and chop into small pieces. Set aside 2 tbsp and crush the others to a
powder. Wash the leeks and onion and stew slowly in the oil (5 minutes
in the microwave on high). When soft, add the hazelnuts, fry lightly
and cover with the stock. Cook for 10 minutes. Blend, then check for
salt and add the cream. Serve in cups sprinkled with the chopped
hazelnuts and chives.

When we made this it wasn't quite as thick as it was supposed to be. Our guess is that it was because our hazelnuts weren't quite to a powder stage.