Minestra Invernale di Verza e Castagne di Guardia Piemontese

• 2 pounds fresh chestnuts
• 2 tablespoons fine sea salt
• 3 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 ounces pancetta, finely diced
• 3 ounces salt pork, finely diced
• 1 large head firm fresh garlic cloves separated, unpeeled, and slightly crushed
• 2 cups good red wine
• 4 medium turnips, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 4 small carrots, trimmed, scraped, and sliced
• 3 small leeks, trimmed, retain 1 inch of the green stems, split, rinsed, dried, and sliced
• 1 small head Savoy cabbage, cored and coarsely shredded

1. Slit the chestnuts on their flat sides with a short, sharp knife or a hook-bladed chestnut knife and boil them for 3 to 4 minutes in water with 1 tablespoon sea salt.
2. Drain the chestnuts and peel them and rub off their inner skins while they are still warm.
3. In a very large, heavy soup pot over a medium flame, warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and saute the pancetta and the salt pork, until they have rendered their fat and are well crusted.
4. With a slotted spoon, remove the crisped pancetta and salt pork to a holding plate.
5. Add the peeled chestnuts to the pot, rolling them about for a minute or two before adding the crushed cloves of garlic and stirring the mixture together.
6. Add the red wine and 8 cups of water and return to a simmer.
7. Cover the pot with a skewed lid and continue to simmer for 1 hour.
8. In a large saute pan over a medium flame, warm 1/2 cup of the olive oil and add the turnips and carrots, tossing them about in the fat for a minute or two before adding the leeks, the cabbage, and 1 tablespoon sea salt and stirring the ingredients together for another minute.
9. Remove the vegetables from the flame.
10. After the chestnuts have simmered for 1 hour, add the vegetables to the pot, returning to a simmer.
11. Cook the soup, uncovered, for 1/2 hour or until the chestnuts are tender but still holding their shape.
12. The soup is best when it is served without pureeing first.
13. But, if you wish, pureeing a third or so of the soup and blending it back will thicken it into a stew, leaving its integrity unharmed.
14. Its your choice.
15. In any case, turn the soup out into a warmed tureen or ladle it into warm, deep soup plates.
16. Pass the reserved crisps of pancetta and salt pork for garnish.
17. Add warm bread, a jug of the good red wine with which the soup was made, and supper is ready.

chestnuts, salt, extravirgin olive oil, pancetta, salt pork, head firm, good red wine, carrots, leeks, savoy cabbage

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/minestra-invernale-di-verza-e-castagne-di-guardia-piemontese-391184 (may not work)