Before we put the holidays behind us, I'd like to know what dishes were deemed true "winners" at your holiday table?
Here's one that my family enjoyed, a blessing in its simplicity. It came from the November-December 1997 issue of Modern Maturity. The recipe is supposed to serve 6, but I made four recipes and that amount served 16 diners adequately without leftovers. I had 10-3/4 cans of condensed chicken broth on hand, and used five of them, undiluted, for the four recipes (not too salty). The 10 oz cans of whole chestnuts at our supermarket were imported from France and cost $6 each. It is probably satisfactory to substitute a less expensive chestnut product, since the chestnuts will be pureed anyway. Here tis:

Chestnut Soup With Sage
1 can (10-3/4 oz) cream of celery soup, undiluted
1 can (about 14 oz) chicken broth
1 can (10 oz) whole, peeled, unsweetened cooked chestnuts
1 teaspoon dried sage
Garnish: croutons OR chopped fresh sage OR cream
In a large saucepan, combine the first four ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Puree the chestnuts into the soup with a hand-held blender or in a food processor in batches. Serve hot. Garnish with croutons or chopped fresh sage, or you may want to add a teaspoon of cream to each bowl and swirl it over the surface.