Ligurian Chestnut Gnocchi

[waic]

I'm making some chestnut gnocchi. I've found a few recipes using chestnut flour and all-purpose flour and/or potato.

I'm wondering whether these are also traditionally made by cooking whole fresh or dried chestnuts and grinding them and then kneading this into a dough with a little flour. Seems like a tastier option, but is it traditional?

Also, any recommendations for sauces? Pesto? Cream Sauce? Cheese Sauce?

Thanks.

[piazzola]

I did a little search for you and yielded these

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...ficial%26sa%3DG

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...ficial%26sa%3DG

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...ficial%26sa%3DG

http://www.deliciousitaly.com/Liguriarecipes2.htm

hope this helps

[Pontormo]

Given the heat wave, you might consider serving something lighter now such as spinach-ricotta gnocchi which are sometimes prepared by layering chopped, drained spinach over the ricotta mixture then rolling it up and slicing it (about 1/2 inch thick) to form spirals. Delicious with a simple, fresh tomato sauce.

Chestnut gnocchi are usually made from chestnut flour* in late autumn or winter months, sometimes accompanied by other seasonal flavors such as winter squash and mushrooms used in a brothy sauce. Pesto does not strike me as complementary.

*Made from ground chestnuts whose use for polenta, etc., etc. dates much, much earlier in the history of Italian cuisine than wheat flour and/or egg-based pasta...or a corn-based polenta.

Edited July 17, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Franci]

Careful with chestnut flour, you can find it easily in the States but if it is an old flour (meaning from previous year) it turns bitter. You need to look for fresh flour in Autumn and know your source and then it's better to keep it frozen. Chestnut flour have a particular taste, I do love chestnut but I don't like smoked aftertaste of the flour. In fact I make my gnocchi with chestnuts, potatoes and buckwheat flour. It's not really a summer dish.

In any case to make the gnocchi you'll need: 1 kg of russet or idaho potatoes, 1 egg, 200 g of chestnut flour, some parmigiano if you like.

Pontormo, it is pretty traditional to serve gnocchi, trofie and testaroli made with a part of chestnut flour and a pesto dressing. Another very traditional dressing is a walnut (not traditional but some speck julienne is very nice on it) or a sauce with gorgonzola woul be a good choice.

Edited July 17, 2006 by Franci (log)

[Kevin72]

After some disastrous attempts at making it with chestnut flour (it went rancid as Franci cautions) I did wonder about making it with chestnuts, as with potatoes. If you try it, please post your results, I'm still curious.

I made it with a mushroom and thyme sauce that was pretty good.

[waic]

After some disastrous attempts at making it with chestnut flour (it went rancid as Franci cautions) I did wonder about making it with chestnuts, as with potatoes.  If you try it, please post your results, I'm still curious.

I made it with a mushroom and thyme sauce that was pretty good.

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I did try both, just to test. I used dried chestnuts which I boiled until soft and then mashed. I mixed it with a little water and white flour, just to bind, and rolled out the gnocchi. The taste was very different from the chestnut flour gnocchi, and the texture not as gummy. It felt like a slightly-firmer-than-al-dente potato gnocchi with a mild chestnut flavor.

I actually prefer it, but it does not have the distrinctive taste of the chestnut flour which I also like very much. My main problem with the chestnut flour (mixed with 50% white flour) gnocchi is that the texture is very gummy and dense. I suppose adding the mashed potato would soften that up.

waic

[Franci]

Start form a standart gnocchi recipe with potatoes and then substitute the wheat flour with chestnut.

[Kevin72]

My main problem with the chestnut flour (mixed with 50% white flour) gnocchi is that the texture is very gummy and dense. 

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[StevenC]

Chestnut gnocchi are usually made from chestnut flour* in late autumn or winter months, sometimes accompanied by other seasonal flavors such as winter squash and mushrooms used in a brothy sauce.  Pesto does not strike me as complementary.

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A few years ago I had a very good dish in Moneglia, on the Riviera del Levante: chestnut-flour tagliatelle, with a sauce of pesto and prescinseua cheese. The slight sourness of the cheese complemented the sweetness of the chestnut pasta very well. Granted, it wasn't an orthodox pesto, but it worked.

Another idea, although definitely more of an autumn theme, would be to sauce the chestnut gnocchi with pigeon stock and sprinkle some chopped toasted hazelnuts or chestnuts bits on top.

In making chestnut gnocchi, my instinct would be to use reconstituted dried chestnuts, passed through a ricer. The resulting gnocchi would probably be lighter, with a more interesting texture. You have to be careful with chestnut flour--as someone else mentioned, it can be bitter, particularly if it's old. My relatives across the border in Emilia-Romagna advised me once to make their traditional chestnut pasta with a half-portion of wheat flour because the chestnut flour by itself would be too bitter.

Edited July 21, 2006 by StevenC (log)