Chestnuts

[ninagluck]

I'm afraid, but I can't open your link, however mine is as follows!

1 pound chestnut flour

cold water

halv a teespoon seasalt

1 tablespoon good olive oil

1/2 cup pinenuts

1 teespoons rosemary

heat oven to 200° C, grease your favorite baking thing

mjix flour and salt und slowly add the water, whisking constantly. the dough should have thew consistency of whipped cream.Add the oil, nuts and rosemary and mix for another minute. bake for abt 20 min. it should be dark like a chocolate cake. vinsanto is the perfect match

[Simon Lewinson]

Nina, that is pretty much the same as what I used. Only thing that I can think is that the chestnuts should not be tasted before making the flour. I will need to do some more research.

Simon

Edited April 14, 2013 by Simon Lewinson (log)

[judiu]

Huh? Should be tasted, or should not be toasted, or something else entirely?

[Simon Lewinson]

Huh? Should be tasted, or should not be toasted, or something else entirely?

Yep, toasted or roasted!

Need to fire the editor (me)

Simon

[Mjx]

I would kill for some warm castagnaccio right now!

Nina, the castagnaccio was not bad, but I think that something was missing from the recipe that I used from here http://thriftytuscany.com/chestnut-cake-castagnaccio-recipe. The texture was extremely crumbly and almost falling apart whenever you tried to pick it up. The colour was a light golden brown with small cracks on the surface.

The flavour was quite subtle and went well with the prosciutto, pecorino and home made basil and cashew pesto.

I would love suggestions on better recipes to try.

Simon

The appearance sounds correct (the small cracks all over the surface). Castagnaccio holds together quite well, the consistency can even be a little rubbery when it's cold, so you might be right about the toasting being responsible (although you mention 'heaps of fresh rosemary', which may have provided more breaking points for it ).

I grew up with a lot of different takes on castagnaccio, and like a simple one best, so I've been using this recipe (I'm not wild about pine nuts, and don't like the consistency of raisins in this when it's cold):

500 g/17.6 oz sifted chestnut flour

650 g/22 oz. water

20 ml/4 tsp olive oil

Roughly a tablespoon's worth of very small rosemary leaves (I've also used fresh rosemary/lavender blossom)

Pinch of salt

• Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F
• Add a little water to the chestunt flour, and mix until you have a smooth paste with no dry lumps.
• Add the oil, rosemary, and salt.
• Slowly add the rest of the water, mixing well as you do so; I go for a thick, soupy consistency (you might not need to add all the water).
• If you're using raisins, add them now.
• Let it sit for half an hour; it will thicken a bit.
• Pour onto a greased baking sheet/pan that will let the mixture spread to about 1 cm/0.5" layer.
• If you're using pine (or other) nuts, scatter them over the batter.
• Bake for half an hour, until the top is covered in fine cracks.

The amounts of inclusions (e.g. rosemary, raisins, nuts) aren't at all critical, so long as they aren't so large that the castgnaccio is broken up by them to the extent of falling apart.

ETA: Despite the recipe's instructions, I don't start preheating the oven until after I've finished mixing the batter and it's been sitting for about a quarter of an hour, at least, since the ovens I've used have never taken more than 15 minutes to reach the required temperature.

[Simon Lewinson]

Made some pasta with the chestnut flour for last night's dinner. Used about 2/3 plain flour and 1/3 chestnut flour with fresh eggs, salt and a small amount of local EVOO. After resting the dough for half an hour I tried to roll it out and found that it did not like being rolled out too thin. Change of plan and I made some really rustic stracci. Cooked them and served with browned sage butter and shaved pecorino. Final result was windflower but I don't think that I will be making my own chestnut flour again!

Tonight there were more chestnuts picked, steamed and peeled for a batch of sweet chestnut purée. Now to decide how best to use it.

Simon

[djyee100]

I tasted this recipe at cooking demo, though I've never cooked it. It was very good.

Farro, Butternut Squash, and Chestnuts:
http://books.google.com/books?id=uaJXsT3y6qUC&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=joyce+goldstein+chestnuts+squash+farro+italian+slow+and+savory&source=bl&ots=tKobRSpiVt&sig=VW20hv1DMRXqAVdphtrw2iILlbI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eFJyUbCYNsiWiAK7j4CIDg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=joyce%20goldstein%20chestnuts%20squash%20farro%20italian%20slow%20and%20savory&f=false

A variation on the same recipe, printable, & you'll have to scale it up:

http://www.cookstr.com/recipes/farro-with-butternut-squash-and-chestnuts

I haven't tried this recipe, but it sounds good. I stumbled over it on the web when I was trying to find the other recipe from JG .

Lamb Stew with Chestnuts:
http://books.google.com/books?id=voEqBfaHmjEC&pg=PA147&lpg=PA147&dq=joyce+goldstein+chestnuts&source=bl&ots=wvRw94i0UG&sig=7k_8ZUZGGxf2UdDhbFncFv4Pi0Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=BFFyUdeqBYbmiwKcv4GAAQ&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=joyce%20goldstein%20chestnuts&f=false

If you're ambitious, you can make a batch of marrons glaces and eat them while you watch Greta Garbo in Camille.

[olmoelisa]

This recipe use chestnut flour, you can obtain from dried chestnuts. It's a traditional Lake Como recipe (well, probably it's traditional in all the Northern Italian region Lombardy).

Chestnut Tagliatelle

Ingredients: (4 servings)

1 2/3 cups chestnut flour

1 ¼ cup white flour

3 eggs

A big pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients and knead an elastic dough.

Add warm water if necessary.

Wrap the dough in a plastic film and let it rest for at least half an hour in the fridge.

Roll out the dough about 2 millimeters thick and cut the tagliatelle.

Boil in salty water.

Since it is a homemade pasta, the cooking time can vary, but usually it is between 5 and 8 minutes.

Sauces:

The easiest one: brown abundant garlic cloves and sage leaves in plenty of butter. Sprinkle with black pepper.

Mushrooms sauce: whip some sautéed mushrooms with fresh cream. Calculate about 2-3 tablespoons of mushrooms and 4-5 tablespoon of cream per serving.

Pesto alla Genovese: (not traditional on Lake Como, but delicious on chestnut tagliatelle): put in the mixer 50 basil leaves, 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons of grated Pecorino cheese, 2-3 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon pine nuts, ½ glass of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of warm water and a pinch of salt. Whip for at least 5 minutes.