Chestnuts?

[artichoke]

Has anyone any ideas for using chestnuts - not sweet, just savoury - beyond mixing them with sprouts or roasting them? There is a fantastic crop nearby that I have been collecting and peeling.

I have been boiling them then peeling, but I have accidentally discovered it is much easier the other way round (left two out of the pan and only found them later).

[artichoke]

[valmarg]

Have you thought of marrons glaces?  They take several days to prepare, but are well worth the effort,  Will look up the recipe and post.

valmarg

[manicscousers]

I just like them roasted with a bit of salt, lovely

[Georgie]

You can use them in soups and stuffings too.

G x

[Curryandchips]

Chestnut soup is a real taste from the past, reminiscent of snowfalls and log fires ... :)

[tilts]

Creme Maron uuummmm...
....pureed chestnuts, whipped cream, tad of caster sugar (to taste) and spread in the middle of a rich chocolate cake.
Check out old recipes, this is as old as the hills.

[Tulipa]

Does anyone have a recipe for chestnut soup, I absolutely adore chestnuts....?

T.

[Tora]

If you fancy sweets then I can highly recommend Mont Blanc. Creme maron sounds a bit similar to Mont Blanc, tilts. I'm going to check out the recipe!


Mont Blanc

For chestnut paste:
Peel the outer shell of fresh chestnuts (about 3 pounds) and boil for a few minutes.
Peel the pith and put the chestnuts in a pan, barely cover with milk/water (you can add a split vanilla bean here) and bring to boil. Put a lid on, simmer until chestnuts are tender and then add some sugar (about 1/3 cup - the paste should be fairly sweet). Cook until the sugar has dissolved and blend with a hand mixer until very smooth. Leave it to cool and add some rum or brandy (you can add vanilla essence/extract here if you don't use a vanilla bean).

For sponge cake:
Separate 2 eggs. Add 30g of sugar to yolks and beat until it's creamy and pale in colour. Whisk egg whites with 30g of sugar to make meringe. Add the meringe to yolk mixture and mix with spatula. Add 60g of sifted plain flour (gluten-free flour works well too) to the mixture and mix with spatula. Pour the mixture into a baking tin (I use 18cm round tin) and cook at 160~180C until golden. Take out of the tin and leave to cool. (I usually slice this into two discs and use only one and freeze the remaining disc wrapped in foil.

For cream chantilly:
Whip double cream (about half a pint) with a bit of sugar (about a teaspoon) until stiff (stop whipping as soon as the cream is stiff, otherwise the cream will split).

To Assmble:
Put the sponge on a plate (you can brush the sponge with rum/brandy at this stage) and pile the cream chantilly on top of it. Smooth the surface of the cream. Now put blobs of the chestnut paste on top of the cream, covering evenly and then smooth the surface so that the cream is hidden completely. The cake is dome shaped and should have a thin disc of sponge in the bottom with thick layers of cream and chestnut paste on top.
Dust with cocoa powder or grate chocolate on top. Chill, slice and serve! :P

Both the chestnut paste and sponge cake freeze well. I usually don't measure chestnuts and end up with far too much chestnut paste, which I freeze in a plastic container. As long as you have this paste, the cake is so easy and quick to make. :)

[Georgie]

This one looks nice and simple and I think the celery would counter the sweetness of the chestnuts rather well.  G x

http://www.hookerycookery.com/xmas001.htm

[Tulipa]

Wow, thank you Georgie that looks just what I am looking for, I have saved it to favourites.  I am hoping to go looking for chestnuts over half term, as long as the weather is a bit drier than today!   T.x

[Georgie]

You are welcome, Tulippa.  Yes, it has been very wet here this afternoon too.  I envy you being able to gather wild chestnuts - I have to rely on Waitrose.  :(  I think I might try that recipe too, you can't beat a good home made soup can you?

G x

[artichoke]

Well, I have been experimenting. I find that any standard vegetable soup takes on a delicious flavour and thickness if you liquidise some of it with the chestnuts, pour it back into the pan and stir it in. It is convenient to put a handful of parsley and coriander into the liquidiser at the same time (both going mad on the allotment).

Made delicious chicken last night, frying small pieces of it with onions and garlic, chunks of butternut squash, adding stock thickened with a little cornflour, and adding whole cooked, peeled chestnuts to heat through at the end, with chopped fresh rosemary and a little cream and lemon juice. Served with plain boiled rice and frozen mangetouts from allotment earlier in the year.

I now reckon chestnuts can be added to any gravy or casserole without special recipes.

Can't do puddings here as there is diabetes in this house.

I mention again that by trial and error I have found that the least annoying method of preparing chestnuts is to peel them raw with a small sharp knife, chucking out the ones with inhabitants, and boil them gently for a few minutes, keeping the boiling water to add to stock and soups. I suppose they could be steamed but I haven't tried that yet.

Husband used to eat them raw as a ravenous wartime schoolboy.

[Obelixx]

I often use chestnuts in winter when making a chicken, rabbit or pheasant casserole.   I don't have a recipe for it as casseroles are such flexible dishes and I use what I have.

If you go to the BBC Food website and do a recipe search on chestnuts you will get plenty of ideas, both sweet and savoury.

[adekun]

You could have a go at making Chesnut rice, it's very popular here in Japan. It's really easy and you can add what you like.

http://www.adekun.com/recipes/japanese/chestnutrice

:P

[artichoke]

Thanks, Adekun, a very interesting site, I'm looking at it now.

[adekun]

Despite being over here, in a similar situation with piles of of chestnuts.
I really had dislike of rice until I met my wife. Would be a problem had I not turned, given it's the main course three times a day.
You might want to look at investing in a rice cooker - yet another kitchen appliance. Some double up as a steamer and they a so easy to use.

As for the site, I've only just started as the garden is winding down. I'd be very grateful of any suggestions...

:)

[cambourne7]

in Hong Kong chestnut cake is popular but no idea how to make it

[supersprout]

Chicken with bamboo shoot, mushrooms and chestnuts - favourite family recipe from an old Chinese cookbook:

Chop a chicken up into 10 or so pieces through the bone, fry in a little oil til brown, then add:

2 tbs thick soy sauce
1 tbs thin soy sauce
2 tbs Shaohsing cooking wine or sherry
20 dried, soaked shiitake mushrooms, cut in quarters (fewer if they are bigger)
about 1-2 pints of the mushroom soaking water and chicken stock
1 tsp brown sugar
6 star anise
chopped up tinned whole bamboo shoot (chopped the same size as chestnuts)
chestnuts - as many as you like

and simmer for about an hour.

Raise the temperature and boil off the stock til it's syrupy, and serve.
Also good with a bit of chilli in.

Nice with sticky rice!

[valmarg]

artichoke, I,ve just reread your original posting, and you ask for savoury, not sweet recipes for chestnuts, and thought Oh b****r.  Having gone to the trouble of tryping out the recipe for glace chestnuts, I've decided I might as well post it.  Somebody out there might like to take the time and trouble to make them!!!


MARRONS GLACÉS

1kg/2¼lb chestnuts in their shells
500g/1lb sugar
500g/1lb glucose
6-8 drops vanilla essence

1.   To prepare the chestnuts, snip off the tops then boil them for 2-3 minutes.  Peel of the shell and the brown inner skin.  Put them in a pan with cold water to cover then boil and simmer gently until the chestnuts are tender.  Drain.
2.   Put the sugar, glucose and 350ml/12fl oz water into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar and glucose are dissolved.  Add the prepared chestnuts.  If the syrup does not cover them, make more.
3.   Bring the syrup to the boil then remove from the pan from the heat.  Cover and leave for 24 hours.
4.   Uncover the pan, bring the syrup to the boil again, with the chestnuts still in it.  Cover the pan again and leave in a warm place for 24 hours.
5.   Add the vanilla essence to the syrup.  Uncover the pan, bring to the boil again, then cover and leave in a warm place for 24 hours.
6.   Lift the chestnuts out of the syrup and place them on a rack.  Some will have broken up â€" collect the bits and press them together into little balls.
7.   Dry the chestnuts in the lowest of ovens for 3-4 hours.  Finally give them a glace finish.

GLACÉ FINISH
500g/1lb candied chestnuts, well dried
500g/1lb sugar

1.   Put the sugar and 150ml/5fl oz water into a saucepan and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring the syrup to the boil then remove from the heat and cover with a piece of cling film (?)  Prepare a ban of boiling water
2.   Pour a little of the syrup into a small heatproof bowl.  Spear the candied chestnuts, one at a time, on a skewer or fork.  Dip each first into boiling water, drain then dip into the bowl of hot syrup.  Place the chestnuts on a wire rack to drain.
3.   As the syrup in the bowl becomes cloudy, discard and replenish the bowl with fresh syrup from the saucepan.
4.   Dry the chestnuts, on the rack, turning them occasionally so that they dry evenly.


It makes you realise why they are so expensive to buy.

Having looked at SS's Chinese recipe, thinking about it you could substitutes chestnuts in any Chinese/Indian recipe that calls for chashew nuts.

valmarg

[mc55]

add them to risottos .. delicious - especially butternut or mushroom