To begin…..

a patè of wild mushrooms and chestnuts

After, Chestnut and borlotti bean soup

As I mentioned on Sunday we have been given a large quantity of very beautiful, deep brown, smooth and glossy sweet chestnuts. I adore chestnuts so I was quite delighted and jumped around. Delight dissolved into mild panic at the sense of responsibility for such a nice gift (I still can’t talk about the last gift, the quinces, I am still ashamed) and the prospect of all the peeling. But that too dissolved and delight returned as we roasted and then gobbled the first chestnuts and I began making chestnut shaped plans.

Growing up in England we had chestnuts, but only very occasionally and almost exclusively at Christmas. Probably in the stuffing, almost certainly roasted in the embers of the fire and maybe, if we were lucky, my Dad would buy my Mum a box of marrons glacès to be offered around. But that was it, our chestnut quota until the following year.  I’m not sure why, we all liked them and my Mum was a thoughtful, seasonal cook and occasional forager. It’s not as if they were an exotic delicacy, we could buy the larger european ones or hunt down the smaller English ones throughout the autumn. Whats more there was a sweet chestnut tree – not to be confused with the horse-chestnut tree which provided us with conkers to be hurled at each other -  at the bottom of our road and Rothamstead park had several vast, old, gnarled trees which shed their prickly husks amongst serrated leaves from October. We just didn’t.

I only really started to cook and experiment with chestnuts when I came to Italy. Italians love and prize chesnuts – afterall they were a staple food here for thousands of years, they deserve to acknowledged – and they do such nice things with them that it becomes quite impossible to ignore, forget or neglect them especially in Autumn, the chestnut coloured months right up until Christmas.

So, the chestnut shaped plans…..

Well, I found 56 recipes I would like to make, most of them Italian or French and many from a lovely small but perfectly formed book by Ria Loohuizen about the history, culture and cooking of chestnuts called, quite appropriately, On chestnuts the trees and their seeds. My mum gave it to me for my birthday 3 years ago, 21 september 2006, I know because she always dates the inside cover.

I finally narrowed it down to 7 recipes – which reads like a rather grand dinner to be held in Umbria sometime in October (I know just the place) – a patè, a soup, a main course, 2 fine accompaniments involving bacon, a dessert, a cake and the hush……marrons glacè…… I would of course start at the beginning, the starter, which seemed sensible and nice too as I have made it before.

I am not actually suggesting this as a complete meal unless of course you want to see if a chestnut overdose is possible. I imagine each course could be a meal in itself with appropriate bits and frills. Having said that we did go for a chestnut double yesterday and have the first two chestnuts courses for lunch, the terrine, with plenty of nice bread and some pickled gherkins and the soup with a blob of creme fraiche.

But before we go any further….

Preparing the chestnuts

The secret to cooking fresh chestnuts is cutting the shells properly so the shell and the tough astringent skin underneath comes away easily. Wash the nuts and then soak them in warm water for 20 minutes so the shells are easier to slash. Using a small sharp knife or a special chestnut knife make a horizontal cut across the curved side of the nut leaving the flat side uncut.

Now, I sometimes boil and I sometimes roast chestnuts before peeling them, it all depends on the recipe. For the following patè and soup I think roasting is best. So, put the slashed nuts (a little more than the required weight to account for the shells) on a baking tray and roast at 200°/400f for 30 minutes. Once they are tender take the chestnuts out of the oven and wrap them tightly in a tea towel so the chestnuts steam a little and the shells come loose,crush the chestnuts slightly so the shells break. After 10 minutes unwrap and peel the chestnuts.

So the patè

Patè of chestnuts and wild mushrooms

Adpated from Ria Loohuizen ‘On Chestnuts’

I’ve made this before and I love it. I want to ramble on about the thick, rich texture of chestnuts and how they are hearty and sweet yet deeply savory at the same time, how well they go with mushrooms, that this feels like food from another time, that I wish I could write poems about chestnuts………. To top it all I used a fresh porcini which was very extravagant but very very tasty.

You can use any kind of mushrooms for this recipe including ordinary cultivated ones but in general the wilder the better.As I have already said serve at room temperature with pickled gherkins, onions, lots of nice toasted bread and a bottle of rough and ready Chianti. Spread thickly.

• 100g mushrooms
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small red onion finely diced
• 250g chestnuts cooked and peeled
• 25g good butter
• freshly grated nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 or 6 juniper berries (optional)

Clean the mushrooms by wiping them with a damp cloth; never rinse mushrooms or they become soggy. Chop the mushrooms finely.

warm the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and saute the onion until soft and translucent. Add the mushrooms to the frying pan and let them fry gently for about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Puree the chestnuts with a food processor, hand blender, mouli-legumes or mash them with the back of a fork,add a tablespoon of warm water if they seem to dry.)

Add the soft butter and chestnut purèe to the onion and mushrooms in the frying pan, add a grating of nutmeg and stir all the ingredients with a wooden spoon until they are well Incorporated.

Pack the mixture into an earthenware terrine or small bowl and decorate the top with juniper berries.

Leave the mixture to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Serve at room temperature.

Now the the soup

Chestnut and borlotti bean soup

Adpated from Ria Loohuizen ‘On Chestnuts’

serves 4 very well

I once ate a wonderful bean and chestnut soup in Umbria. I tried to ask what type of beans they had used but my wonky italian and English accent confused   the waitress who scuttled away whispering ‘fagioli fagioli‘ (beans beans) which didn’t really narrow it down. Anyway the colour of the soup suggested borlotti which made sense as I have always thought borlotti beans have a nutty rather chestnut like quality to them. So I experimented.

I like this soup very very much, the richness and texture of the chestnuts make a wonderfully thick, substantial, velvety soup and the colour…well it’s chestnut, which I think is quite beautiful.

It is a lovely lunch for a cold day accompanied by some toasted bread and a simple green salad for after.

• 30g butter
• 1 medium onion peeled and finely diced
• I slim leek, cleaned and finely sliced
• 1 stalk celery finely diced
• 400g cooked borlotti or cranberry beans
• 400g peeled chestnuts
• 1 litre of chicken, vegetable stock or water
• salt and pepper, nutmeg
• crème fraiche

Melt the butter in a large soup pan and saute the onion until it is soft and translucent. Add the leek and celery and a little salt and let the vegetables gently fry on a low heat for 5 minutes.

Add the beans and the chestnuts to the pan, stir and allow everything to cook together for a few minutes.

Add the stock or water and bring to the boil, turn down the heat and let the soup simmer for 25 minutes.

Pass the soup through the mouli-legumes or blast with a hand blender or purèe with the food processor. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and a grating of nutmeg. Stir.

Serve the soup very warm but not really hot in warm bowls with a blob of crème fraiche.

Practical things

Fresh chestnuts can be kept for days in a cool place or for weeks in the fridge, We can also learn from animals who keep them under a layer of leaves and go leaf collecting or simply lay our chestnuts in box and cover them with a layer of sand. Chestnuts freeze very well once you have peeled them.

The last thing.

The oldest chestnut tree, one of the oldest trees in the world, grows on the Island of Sicily on the eastern slope of the volcano Etna, and is known locally as Il castagno dei 100 cavalli, ‘the tree of 100 horses’. The legend has it that during a thunder-storm the queen of Aragon found shelter for herself and the 100 horsemen who accompanied her on a visit to mount Etna. This magnificent tree, which is estimated to be between 2000 and 4000 years old has been described since the 16th century in the diaries of many travellers, and sketched or painted by artists. When the Scottish traveller Patrick Brydone, who was initially doubtful it was one tree, measured its girth in 1770, he found it to be 62 meters.

Ria Loohuizen ‘On Chestnuts’

]]> http://ashy00.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/christmas-present/ Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:29:29 +0000 ashysheela http://ashy00.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/christmas-present/

Ooh is that my £10 christmas bonus from the DWP i see in my bank account today? Thanks DWP!

hmm what shall i spend it on this year… a big bag of chestnuts maybe… how seasonal and sensibly nutritious i am!

(see how i am trying out the mini blog posts? not sure i can keep it up as it’s not in my nature to keep it brief!)

The kitchen is the heart of my home, and sometimes it can be hard to leave. With the wonders of wireless technology, we have taken to watching food programmes around the kitchen table. It was a morning off work, and I was taking the opportunity to watch everyone’s favorite chef make canneloni as I ate my muesli. It is so often the case that good ideas spring by accident from two unconnected things appearing in brief juxtaposition to one another. And so it was with the leek, of which I glimpsed a peek over my laptop screen as Jamie piped his canneloni. Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, to do that with a leek?

It set my brain in gear. Cutting the leek into suitable lengths, the middle would be pushed out to leave an allium tube. The middles could be chopped finely and sweated gently, while some bacon is crisped up and finely chopped mushrooms are sauteed in another, hotter pan. Meanwhile, some chestnuts would be on the boil, and these would be crumbled into the mixture to help bind. A little cream and seasoning will complete the paste, which can then be piped into the leeks, before baking gently in a creamy béchamel until the leek is yieldingly tender, and the cheese on top is a bubbling, golden brown crust.

Of course, this could be done with numerous stuffings – the question is, where can I get hold of lots of leeks?

This video was posted just recently on YouTube. Anoop sings “The Christmas Song” at San Francisco Macy’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

This is just some of our chestnut (marroni) bounty. It’s the nicest present anyone has given me for ages.

I have cunning and maybe rather overly optimistic plans for the other 3 kilo’s. I can’t say I’m looking forward to the marathon boiling, peeling and cursing session that lies between me and my chestnut patè, soup, stuffing, purèe and hush….marron glacès….. but I know it will be worth it whatever I end up making

Anyway to start, to ease ourselves gently into our chestnut feasting, we roasted some. In the absence of an open fire or a clever chestnut pan we simply cut a cross on the flat side of each nut – I have a special little chestnut knife with a stumpy curved blade – sprinkled them with water and roasted them in a hot oven until the skin started curling away and the chestnuts were soft and tender, about 25 minutes.

We ate them after Saturday lunch, perfect with the end of the Chianti and before the clementines and chocolate.

It was all rather festive and dare I say it……… Christmassy. This took me by surprise as I’ve been feeling ever so cynical and mildly bah humbug lately. Clearly chestnuts are good for my spirits, or maybe it’s just red wine at lunchtime.

Anyway, must get peeling.

To explain why I ended up combining chestnuts (Wikipedia wants me to call them sweet chestnuts or marrons with 2 “r” or, in American, Spanish chestnuts; all in order to avoid confusing them with lesser, inedible kinds) and red cabbage, I will first introduce my childhood red cabbages. At home, red cabbage contained a few cloves, perhaps bay leaves, allspice, in fancy moments some apples, and some smoked pork of the bacony kind. I sort-of liked red cabbage but it was certainly not my ultimate favorite.

At the age of four, I learned to be careful with food away from home: The kitchen of the Weberhof on the island Juist (at the time best described as a seaside vacation kindergarten, where I was supposed to have fun while my parents went on a old-instrument museum trip), bluntly introduced me to the culinary side of homesickness (my present addiction to home-cooking may still be a late compensation for the loneliness of those four weeks).

Regarding North-German red cabbage, there was every reason for my reluctance: in the homes of friends or relatives, it tended to be too sweet (sometimes it was made with raisins), always slimy (the non-judicious use of roux — flour browned in fat — is a trademark of old fashioned everyday German home cooking), and the inevitable bit of smoked side of pork had in most cases turned into a sagging heap of blubber. Unlike in other cabbage, smoked pork is here out of place: its texture does not match the rest of the dish in any case, and after a lengthy stay in a red, bubbling environment, it looks and tastes as if retrieved from the pantry of a long-sunken ship: half disintegrated, discolored and with a hint of smoke of long-gone days.  Small wonder that, when I began to cook my own food, I searched for better ways to deal with red cabbage.

While cutting the pork into small bits before cooking, and pre-sauteing these with a few chopped onions directly creates better results than the amorphous blocks of glorp from my memory, red cabbage might be the only leaf cabbage that does not clearly benefit from the addition of meat, lard, or even stock. I poked around for alternatives, and finally found a reference to chestnuts in cabbage in a small German kitchen dictionary (I think I remember it was the old dictionary from the DTV-Verlag, which includes many good — if laconic — recipes, some good entries about various ingredients, but a lot of misleading information about any kind of non-German regional cooking). It took me a time of experimenting to come up with a way that was truly presentable, and finaly presented, at a recent Thanksgiving party. Here is what I do:

Ingredients: 1 medium large red cabbage (usually the organic ones result in a less smelly kitchen), finely shredded; one tart apple in chunks; about 20 fresh chestnuts in their shell (or more to taste); some chopped onion; 4 or 5 cloves; some ground black pepper; salt; at least a tablespoon of butter; and altogether about half a bottle of dry white wine.

While I’m shredding the cabbage, I very slowly saute the onion in about a third of the butter in a large pan. At home I use a cast-iron casserole for this task; here in my Southampton study-hole, I had to do with a large stainless-steel pan. This worked fairly well; however, the sides get less hot, which retards the cooking process, while the bottom tends to heat up too much, making it necessary to monitor the progress closely in order to avoid burning the food.

Now I add the cabbage, the apple, all the spices, some salt, and two thirds of the wine. I stir, adjust the heat so the whole starts to simmer, and cover the pan. I stir occasionally and check the sauce level. If necessary, I add a little more wine.

The chestnuts need no oven-baking: while a suitable amount of water comes to the boil, I cut a cross in each chestnut shell and boil the chestnuts for about 8 minutes, drain them, let them cool slightly and shell them. I also peel or scrape away as much of the brown inner skin as possible, breaking the chestnuts apart where the skin goes inward, while trying to be time-efficient about this: there is no need to get rid of every last bit of it. Dark areas of chestnut need to be cut out, of course (I was lucky and found organic Italian chestnuts at my store — one of the moments where it truly ’shared my values’ as the slogan goes — and ended up with having to discard only two chestnuts out of a whole bag, while the rest of them were large and impeccable).

The resulting strainer full of half-cooked, cleaned chestnut chunks gets rinsed and set aside (this is, incidentally, the stage where a larger batch of chestnuts would go into freezer bags for later use. I avoid canned chestnuts), while I slowly heat up the rest of the butter in a small pan. The butter foam has subsided completely before I add the chestnuts to the pan, but the butter should not have browned more than very slightly. We want to enhance the chestnut flavor, not mask it.

Stirring around on low heat, I wait until some of the butter has been absorbed and everything got hot and starts sizzling. Now I add the rest of the wine and a little salt, and adjust everything to a medium-low simmer, uncovered. The chestnuts should take about 30 minutes to cook; if the wine gets absorbed earlier, I add some more, or water; if some wine is left at the end, I boil it off until about a tablespoon of sauce is left in the pan. Now I set the chestnuts aside to cool. They will absorb most of the remaining sauce and butter.

Ideally, the cabbage needs at least two hours to cook properly. For some reasons, cabbage heated up on the next day tastes usually better, so one could prepare everything ahead of time and add the chestnuts when heating up the cabbage. Check for salt and balance: sometimes, a bit of good wine vinegar is needed to balance acidity and to enhance the flavor.

This is a great aside for any big roast at a feast dinner; it keeps for days and can easily be frozen when one’s leftover-feast-food-mood has vanished. Retrieved from the freezer, it greatly supports the solitary cooker’s Sunday cooking based on, for example, single browned bird bits.

One of the great treats of the late summer and fall is Monte Bianco. I read about it first in Lampedusa’s “The Leopard”, which is one of the great unknown novels of world literature. I never thought I’d make it myself, but then I found it in Hazan’s “Essentials of Classical Italian Cooking” and tried it. Now it’s easy enough to me that I think it’s an easy dessert, but I’m sure originally I thought it was hard. It’s easy though. And one of the best desserts that can be made. It’s good to plan it out in advance, though. It can be made in about 1.5 hours (most of that is cooling the dessert in the freezer) but it’s a lot better if you begin before the meal and have it thoroughly cooled by dessert time, about 3-4 hours to do it in at an easy pace.

Monte Bianco

Soak 2 pounds of chestnuts in warm water for 30 minutes. Slit them deeply across their “bellies” carefully, using your sharpest knife, and steam them for 20 minutes. Set 1 pound of 87% chocolate to melt in a double boiler (put the chocolate in a pot and float the pot in a larger pot of water and bring the water to a low simmer; chocolate burns easily). Then sit down, open each chestnut, and scoop out the meat into a low, wide saucepan. Try to get rid of as much of the inside skin as you can. When that’s done, pour enough milk so it almost covers the chestnuts, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes . You need to be careful here, I’ve burnt the bottom of the chestnuts several times. When the chestnuts absorb the milk, mix in the chocolate, add sugar to taste, and 1/4 cup of liquor (gin is incredible, as is rum). Put in the freezer or fridge until cool (the cooler the better, but don’t freeze it). When it’s cool, put heavy cream in a bowl and run an electric mixer until it becomes whipped cream. Put the chocolate in the bottom of a serving bowl, top with whipped cream, and read the Leopard in amazement.

Welcome our Guest Contributor, Grace Boda

What ARE they?? They’re chestnut burrs….each filled with a small handful of fresh chestnuts, ripe for winter roasting.

Locally grown chestnuts are a rare treat. While American Chestnut trees once dominated the landscape in many parts of our country, they were hit hard by a blight in the early 1900s and by 1940 were virtually eliminated. Today, they survive only in small clumps of living stumps that grow small shoots, surviving just long enough to produce a few seeds before dying. As a result, domestic chestnuts have all but disappeared. Currently 90% of all chestnuts sold in the US are imported from far away places like Italy, China, and Korea.

We’re fortunate in the Bay Area to have Winters Chestnuts, one of the few remaining chestnut farms in the United States growing an Asian and European hybrid variety of these unusual nuts and restoring the chestnut to domestic soils. The farm is less than 50 miles from central Contra Costa County so all you local-vores can enjoy this nostalgic winter treat in good conscience!

Come meet Aimee Eng and her father Weylin at the Walnut Creek market and learn all about this interesting food. You’ll be able to handle the spiny burrs, trade recipes with the Engs, and get lots of ideas for fun and delicious family holiday activities with chestnuts.

Winters Chestnuts will be at the Walnut Creek Farmers’ Market until their crop sells out, likely through mid-December, so don’t delay! Share the lore of the American Chestnut and enjoy a traditional treat in a way that respects our planet’s resources.

The starchy, sweet taste of chestnuts is one that I always welcome, at any time of the year. Perhaps, though, it’s the old aphorism “chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose” that makes winter seem the perfect season for the creaminess and slight natural smokiness of the nut.

For last night’s dinner, I opened a can of chestnuts and boiled them in red wine. Simple and wonderful.

If you aren’t craving a bowl of chestnuts as a meal, this makes a perfect winter snack. A free-flowing bottle of red wine, a few close friends, and an outrageously gaudy Christmas sweater could only make this treat more delightful.

• 10 oz. can of peeled chestnuts (in water)
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick (or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
• 3 whole cloves (or 1 teaspoon ground cloves)

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring it all to a boil. Taste the mixture, and feel free to add more sugar if you’d prefer it sweeter.

Once it is boiling, reduce the heat slightly. Allow it to simmer until the alcohol evaporates and you are left with thick syrupy concoction (about 25-30 minutes). Spoon into a bowl and there you have it.

I assure you that it is tastier than it looks.

You could also make this dish savory by replacing the sugar, cinnamon, and cloves with 2 bay leaves and a pinch of salt.

We are in full Holiday Cheer over at happy delusions. As today marks the first official day of our extended holiday hours. Thats right, we are here longer for all your shopping needs. Now thru Dec 23, Monday – Saturday 11 -7, and Sunday 11-5. Then Dec 24, 11 – 2ish. Then we will be closed Dec 25 & 26.

We are happy to announce the winner of our Turkey Challenge (who wishes to remain anonymous on the webpage), who submitted two very cool, very tiny crocheted chestnuts. This lovely young lady will be receiving a $10 gift certificate to the shop. And will forever be deemed the official first person to win a hd craft challenge. Good work lady.

Crocheted Chestnuts.

Soooooooooo…………….. Here we go again. This time the Challenge is centered around the festive holiday season. And a $10 gift certificate to the shop is on the line here folks so please read the entry requirements, and let the creativity begin.

Here are the requirements:

1.) Item must be handmade by YOU!

2.) Photo needs to be submitted on or before Midnight on December 20, 2009 to happydelusions@yahoo.com

3.) We also need to see a photo of work in progress to insure YOU are in fact the creator.

4.) A description of what you are submitting, and materials used.

5.) Item has to be centered around the challenge theme.

First of all I wish you a pleasant first Sunday of Advent! Have a lovely day and don’t forget to light the first candle on your Advent wreath!

Yesterday, Mum, my godmother, her daughter and I threw a little biscuit baking party. We baked and baked and decorated and decorated for 8 hours. 8 hours! It was sooo much fun! (Although I hadn’t slept a lot the night before – I had an awesome Friday night for the first time in weeks.)

Now lean back and enjoy the cookie show!

These were our first batch of biscuits: Actually, they are called Dipped Pumpernickel in the recipe,

but because in the end, they look like this, we called them Chestnuts.

Chocolatey, chocolatey!

We also made Cinnamon Stars!

These ones are sooo good! They’re the best biscuits we made. I love them.

Who’s next? Oooh, Linzer Augen (Linzer Eyes/Biscuits). Yummy.

Filled with red currant jam and topped with almonds. Mmmmhm. The dough had a fine lemon taste. With the same dough as base, we made Nougat Loops.

The have a biscuit base, a nougat core and a whole milk chocolate topping with almonds. Hefty, I know.

We also used the inner parts of the loops to create something special – out of these little baby biscuits

we made these tasty Nougat Bits.

They are perfect for one bite. Simi and I saved them from being chocolate-covered – that would have been too much.

No, the show’s not over yet. There is still one kind of biscuits left.

We tried out the funny biscuit press I showed you. And… it didn’t work out quite well. Have a look at our ..uhm.. special Piped Biscuits.

Pay attention to the lips/ski-shaped biscuits on the right – hand-shaped by me, haha!

You see, I had a lovely weekend. Today’s the first Sunday of Advent and my Dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad!) and I’m in a really good mood. How can I not be with boxes full of tasty biscuits?  Particularly when they’re made with so much love.

This is a tasty winter warmer that I adapted from a recipe that I was given, when I went on a cookery day out in Somerset. It uses seasonal ingredients such as chestnuts and cranberries, cheaper cuts of beef and would be perfect for a New Year’s party, especially after all the turkey consumed at Christmas!

What is really good about this recipe, is that it can be made upto 4 days in advance, being kept in the fridge and also it freezes well, making this handy for busy people at this time of the year.

It is fairly simple to make but looks very impressive served up.

9ozs/250g Smoked Back Bacon Cubes
3 tbsp Gluten Free Plain Flour - seasoned with salt, pepper and a pinch of paprika (not smoked or hot)
3 ½ lbs/1.6Kg Lean Beef Cubed – skirt or chuck steak
2-3 tbsp Rapeseed Oil
3 Red Onions – peeled and finely chopped
2 Garlic Cloves – peeled and finely chopped
9ozs/250g Chestnut Button Mushrooms
½ Bottle Red Wine
6ozs/170g Fresh or Frozen Cranberries
4ozs/113g Fresh Chestnuts - peeled and chopped in half
1-2 tbsp Soft Light Brown Sugar
1 ½ pints/300ml Beef Stock
2 tbsp Sweet Chilli Sauce
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
¼-½ tsp Crushed Chillies
3 Bay Leaves
Fresh Parsley, chopped to garnish

Preheat oven to 180C/350F Gas 4 or 170C Fan Oven.

1 In a large flame-proof casserole dish, cook the bacon over a medium heat until crispy and then remove.

2 Tip the flour into a plastic bag, add the meat and shake to coat.

3 Add half the oil to the casserole dish and brown the meat in batches, adding more oil as necessary.

4 Remove the meat and set aside and add the onions and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until they start to brown.

5 Add the garlic and mushrooms to the onions and cook for a further 5 minutes.

6 Return the meat and bacon to the casserole, add the bay leaves, red wine, beef stock, sweet chilli sauce and crushed chillies, bring to the boil and cook in a pre-heated oven for one hour.

7 While the casserole is cooking, prepare the chestnuts by splitting the skin, then putting them in a covered dish and microwave each chestnut for 10 secs on high power. Once heated, peel off the outer skin and cut in half.

8 After cooking for an hour, add the cranberries, chestnuts and sugar, season with a little black pepper, stir well and return to the oven for another 45 minutes to one hour.

9 Check that the meat is tender, the cranberries are cooked and not tart, adding more sugar if necessay.

10 Re-check the seasoning, scatter with chopped parsley and serve.

Serve with green vegetables, roast or jacket potatoes, or if preferred, rice!

I love sprouts.  We had roast chicken last night and I was wondering how to dress my sprouts up.  I found some chorizo and I knew I had some vacuum packed chestnuts in the cupboard and so this dish came into being. It was very nice; the savoury tang of the sprouts combined with the salty tang of the chorizo and the sweetness of the chestnuts was just right. We will definitely be having this one again.

It’s hard to give quantities for this recipe, I used as much as we were likely to want to eat of each item.

sprouts
chorizo, diced
vacuum packed peeled chestnuts, roughly chopped

Method

Peel the top layer off each sprout and slice off the very bottom.  I don’t feel the need to put a cross in the bottom of the sprouts as life is too short and they cook just as well without it.  Put the sprouts in a pan and put in enough water to just cover them.  Bring them to the boil and simmer for about 7-8 mins until tender (or you could steam them until tender).  Drain the sprouts and leave to one side.  Fry the chorizo in a large pan for a few minutes over a medium heat until it begins to leech its golden oil.  Add the sprouts and the chestnuts and cook for a few minutes more, stirring gently,  until everything is piping hot and covered in the chorizo oil.  Serve immediately as a side dish.

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Being married is a lot like having a roommate.

To promote a sense of domestic calm, and to prevent small rodents and insects from breeding in a dark corner of the living room, it helps if each person sharing the address does some form of houskeeping. One should be assigned  say, to clean the catbox, while the other cohabitor is assigned  trash removal.

In order for this system to work, each person needs to assume his/her duties  with a happy sense pride from working to create a warm and orderly home.

This  is how I think other couples live.

Not us.  No, DH is not a boor in the least.  He assumes domestic duties quite willingly.  In fact, he actually knew how to sort laundry when I met him.  Much to my surprise, it wasn’t until we were married when I discovered that I could kill a man by doing a load of laundry.

If I have a load of clothing drying, and he manages to beat me down to the basement, when he comes back up to the apartment, he invariably has the pale, wan look of someone suffering the dyspepia associated with coronary distress.

Holding up a red skirt and a pair of his white shorts, wtih the look that he just discovered evidence of some form of seedy indiscretion carried out in the backseat of his car, I know the lecture is about to start.

I smile patiently as I wait for him to proclaim his laundry edict: Clothes require proper laundry sorting. This is predicated upon  some weird calculus based on textiles and colors.  He explains as if I were a naughty school girl who spilled chocolate down the front of her school uniform,  ”I keep my clothes a long time, because I take care of them.”  (So, that’s it.  if left alone, he’d wander through life wearing the same, permanently grunged out tee-shirt from college.)  I know that highlighting this fact for him will totally undo the logic of his arguments.    So I am saving it up for later.

Instead, I wait for him to breath deeply.  This is how he punctuates his logic.  When he is finally oxygenated and calm, I point out that  my system is more logical.  I sort clothing items based on the number of quarters I have.

Absolute segregation, as history has proven, is totally overrated. At least in the dryer.  Really, none of our clothes or towels have suffered any damage–and  I just saved eight quaters by making  single load–proving how thrifty I can be.  Sadly however, washing really is a different story…Once, in my zest for thriftiness, I ended up taking 2 buses to get the the bank before it closed to score enough quarters to rewash one of DH’s dress shirts that he needed for an interview the next day.  Never mind the fact that I ignored forgot his request to drop it off at the drycleaners.  When he asked,  I rolled my eyes knowing how much moneyI could save by washing and pressing it at home.

Alas, it seems there isn’t much of a call these days for clown enginers.  I had to rewash the shirt more than a couple of times to remove the tie-dyed rainbow hues.

However, drying rarely poses the same danger.  Whites washed separately really have no issue with doing a shimmy party in a dryer filled with more colorful items.  In  fact, they probably enjoy the excitement of mingling with raspberry or turquoise blouses.   Doubling up on the loads saves me enough quarters to wash laundry sorted to the most presnikity of categories.

Unfortunately, such thrift has to be kept in the closet.  While other wives watch the clock to hide their affairs with the UPS man, or their afternoon cocktails and pain pills (I’m reading Valley of the Dolls), I make sure the laundry is done before DH gets home from work.

Cooking  I find is something else best done under the stealth solitude when DH is at work.  Why? If he’s present, he suddenly morphs into a prosectuting attorney as soon as I pull out a pot.

His ears prick up as his eyes  narrow.  For a minute or two, he sits silently as he watches me cook–which is a little too easy as the TV is across from the stove.    Our tiny living room-kitchen is suddenly transformed into a courtroom where the poor pepper corns are  put on the witness  stand:

“Can you explain to the courtroom, why an entire tablspoon of you and your little pals were loitering with the Coriander in the soup over there?”

This interrogation continue with each ingredient is chopped, stirred and added to the dish, culminating with the room-clearing, “Are you sure you need to saute that first?”

Oh, look!  He has shape-shifted from Michael Cutter to Jacques Pepin!  Do I risk dulling my prized chef’s knife?   Instead, I pour him a glass of wine and sotto voce, I ask three simple questions:

1.  Do you like my cooking?  “Of course…”

2.  Do you want to finish cooking this yourself?  “of course not, yours is better.”

3.  Have I ever poisoned you?

With this, he shuffles back to the sofa to watch TV.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I’m making chestnut stuffing.  I’ll post the recipe after I figure it out!  Meanwhile, I bought real chestnuts!!  Just like Paris–or NYC!   Here’s how I roasted them:

Normally, you score an “X” in the shell to let the steam escape.  I love my knives, and this would dull the paring knife.  So,  I put a chestnut on the cutting board and took the can of cranberry relish and WHACK cracked the shell thusly.  It works like a freaking charm–plus, if your DH is pestering you as they are wont to do–this is great fun as a form of theraputic release.

Place the cracked nuts into a rimmed backing sheet filled with water, soak the chestnuts for 15 minutes, drain and pat dry.

Put them in an 450º for 2o minutes until you can smell their fragrant yumminess.

Enjoy!

*uploading video is in the works.

If you’ve been to New York you KNOW the aroma of warm,cinnamon, roasted nuts that remind you of the Holidays. You can’t escape the scented trail that graces the corners and attacks your senses. I was sucked in by these little carts emitting such wonderful aromas my first visit to New York and I was determined to track one of those carts down before my trip was over. Surely enough I smelled one two blocks away and didn’t hold back ordering cashews covered in goodness. My partner in crime ordered roasted chestnuts. Unfamiliar with this peculiar nut I had to try a bite! The chestnut is stubborn on the outside, but it’s insides literally, melt away once they hit your lips. It was an interesting texture, tasty, but I do have to admit they did smell a little weird.

Having the biggest sweet tooth only hurts you in a place covered in bakeries and coffee shops.

I have heard nothing but great things about Magnolia Bakery and I had to find out what all the rage consisted of. It was most certainly on my to do list. But before we get to that let me tell you about this quirky little hot dog chain called, “Papaya Dog.”

Hitting the streets around lunch time only makes you more hungry, but instead of having pizza again we opted to try an authentic New York hot dog. We checked into recommended Papaya Dog and ordered. I ordered a chilly dog while my other explorers chose chili-cheese dogs. Walking in I couldn’t help but ask myself why it was called Papaya Dog?!?

Well, I came to the conclusion that these little closets have an assortment of tropical drinks, one of them being Papaya. That’s as good as I could get.

We took our lunch to a sidewalk bench and had our feast at the foot of the Empire State building. It was in fact an amazing way to admire such a historical  building. Afterall it is King Kongs building of choice!

Energized and ready we continued to treck and take over New York. We headed to the Rockefeller Center, but on the way we stopped at the New York Library. The New York Library was by far the largest library I had ever seen!! Spanning over one entire block and flushed with greenery and marble. Walking into the library I had to remind myself that I was in a library and not in a marble castle. I walked up flights of stairs to the second level where just as tall murals graced the walls. The murals told the story of the printed word. First beginning with the monks followed by Guttenberg and eventually ending with the printing press. The New York library hosts one of the original Guttenberg bibles and I had to see it for myself. Being the only explorerer enveloping myself in the library, I agreed to continue our journey. There are parts of the library I missed and I would definitely go back to check out.

Willingly being led by the streets we ended up in Bryant Park, known for hosting New York’s fashion week and a winter ice skating rink. Sprinkled through the park are little shops filled with unique treasures and tasty treats. The skating rink was cheery and made you want to do nothing, but skate under the sky.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral was next on the list and was absolutely breathtaking. The cathedral was enormous in height and emitted an astonishing aura. Walking in I was overwhelmed by grand arches and I like the others walked with my head turning in every direction. I could have easily spent a few hours in there and as I said good-bye I lit a candle for my family’s celebrated saint, Saint Anthony of Padua.

Not only was the cathedral an amazing place to see, but the buildings lining up the streets were works of art bearing great history and I’m sure great stories.

Have I convinced you to buy your ticket yet?

Rockefeller Center popped up on our path and it was already under construction for christmas decorations. Ladders surrounded the soon to be completed tree as skaters danced across the famous rink. Just across the way was the famous NBC studios and we had to go into the network’s store. Tons of NBC show stuff as well as a complete candy heaven was stocked inside. We covered midtown and now it was time to venture back to East Village. Now it was time to find the subway. Walking to the subway we ran into yummy Magnolia Bakery! I was soo excited!

Stepping into the bakery was like a dream and it smelled so delicious. Small personal cheescakes were all lined up in the first case followed by cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Unfortunately I was disappointed with everything, but the cheesecake. (I’ve had better) We all dove in and placed our orders. I took pumpkin cheesecake with me as the others ordered chocolate vanilla swirl and key  lime. We found a spot near a fountain across the street where we attacked and savored every morsel.

On to the subway we headed to east village. Upon arriving we walked blocks and blocks of streets and dipped into a cozy bar for a bit. The bar served popcorn with every drink and it was filled with locals and international accents. We talked until our feet were ready to  hit the streets again and hungry as usual we were directed to the famous Katz Deli. I had no idea why it was famous or what to expect so I went with the flow. We arrived at Katz Deli, which was old-fashioned and the menu looked as if it hadn’t changed in years!

Besides the endless photos of celebrities and people of interest covering the walls from the ceiling to the floor, Katz Deli is well-known for being in the movie where Harry Met Sally. We of course had to sit and eat dinner here and a small sign helped us pick our spot in the restaurant.

Diving Into My Turkey Sandy

Lookin' up at "The Sign"

Katz clever way of the "bill"

Our feast

With the night just beginning we were ready to listen to some music and checked out east village radio. The home to the online radio station. We were shocked when we spotted the place because we all were expecting a place to sit and listen to music. Instead it was a tiny closet of a place and six people inside of it equaled a crowd. Nonetheless I went because it was on my fellow travelers list of must see’s. Having enough of the crowded spot we headed down the streets and ended at a small apartment where we met some ”locals” that shared their favorite club spots and advice on getting a cab.

When Hailing a Cab:

1) Look for the cabs with their light on top turned on.

2) If a random car pulls up it’s probably a Gypsy cab. It’s cheaper, but they can’t get in trouble for kidnapping you.

3) The taxi cabs with a lot of advertising on them are more expensive.

4) Taxi’s aren’t alowed to share their rides…that means no picking up “Driving Ms. Daisy’s” and dropping them off…on the way to your destination. (This happened to us earlier in the day and we almost missed our train!)

Sitting at the apartment with good conversation and listening to old one hit onders we missed our train giving us no choice, but to take the next one. We headed to the subway and now this time the subway didn’t run as often so we missed our train again! Frustrated with the night we quietly rode to Penn station and purchased our tickets for the next train, which was to arrive at 2AM.

Drenched from the drizzle we went back outside and walked the lonely streets. We went back to Papaya Dog and also made a stop at White Castle.  I had never tried the burger joint before and had to try the famous “White Castle.” Dissapointed! Let’s just say if you like mini burgers with paper thin meat and soggy bread this is YOUR joint! As time passed we headed back to Penn Station where tons of drunk stragglers were meandering around waiting for their next. Finally our train had arrived and we ran to it ready to go home and sleep.

On the train there was constant noise of drunken conversation that eventually drowned out as we took off toward Farmingdale. But why when I looked over two girls who were sprawled on their seats covered in shopping and sleeping both woke up crying as if they had a nightmare or something. Weird! I just kept to myself and  hoped to get home soon.

Exhausted from a long day I couldn’t help, but be happy with all the amazing sights and food I had experienced over two days.

From the outside, it must have appeared picture-perfect.  My brothers and I in flannel pajamas knelt playing in front of a warm fire.  A record played Christmas carols in the background and our Christmas tree flickered merrily with lights.   The seasonal favorite, “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” had been our inspiration.  And my mother, wanting our first taste of chestnuts to be authentic, had ignored the oven for the real deal: our happily blazing fire.  Playing the role of domestic goddess beautifully, she had carefully arranged about 2 dozen chestnuts near the flames.

It wasn’t until the second loud pop that our scene of domestic bliss became something out of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.  Like popping popcorn, it began slow, but quickly accelerated.  Bits of hot chestnut shrapnel went hurtling across the room as the chestnuts began exploding in quick succession.  As our living room became a holiday battleground, my mother screamed for us all to seek cover. 

My brothers and I have always known that we had one heck of a great mom, but she proved it that night. Not only had she created an explosive display worthy of the 4th of July (albeit unintentionally), but she was also going to save us from it.   As we watched with glee, safely behind the couch, she used the fire screen as a shield to try to move the few remaining chestnuts from the hearth.  The holiday season has always brought my brothers and I surprises and fun, but that night roasting chestnuts on an open fire took its place right up there with Santa as a holiday favorite.  

Unfortunately, that was the last time we ever roasted chestnuts on an open fire.  While my mother learned that pricking chestnuts with a fork is not sufficient, the fact that we kept finding bits of chestnut in the rug and in the couches for weeks afterwards put an end to the possibility of a future fire roasting.  We did however continue to roast chestnuts using the far less exciting oven and they have remained a favorite of mine ever since.

Chestnuts, the fresh kind, not the type you find in a jar, arrived at my grocery store about two weeks ago.  Fresh chestnuts only appear for about 6 weeks around the holidays here in North Carolina.  Consequently, you have to make the most of them and I bought a bag with plans to add them to a rice pilaf I was making.  While chestnuts can be used in soups, stuffing, desserts, or just eaten plain they need to be roasted and shelled before being used.  And while I’d love to get advice on successfully roasting chestnuts on an open fire, you’ll find mine roasting safely in the oven.

Roasted Chestnuts
Choose firm and plump chestnuts to roast.  While chestnuts in their shells can be stored in a cool, dry place, once you remove the shell you should refrigerate the chestnuts.  I find that chestnuts are best roasted the day you buy them as they tend to dry out and become hard the longer they sit on your counter.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a rack in the center of the oven.

Using a sharp paring knife carefully cut an “x” into the shell of each chestnut.   Be careful.  Most chestnuts have a flat side and you should be sure to place this side on the table before cutting the “x” to keep the chestnut from moving.  Try to just cut through the shell, not the fleshy nut underneath.  Don’t skip this step as the cut allows steams to escape and prevents the chestnut from exploding.

Spread out the chestnuts on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the cut side facing up.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly before opening the chestnuts.  Some people advise that you wrap the chestnuts in a towel and squeeze the towel to break up the shells.  I find this to be somewhat ineffective and that it is easier to break the shell open using the curled-up edges of the “x.”  Once you remove the shell, remove the brown, bitter skin that surrounds the actual chestnut.  A shelled chestnut will look like the chestnut on the left in the following picture:

Eat the chestnut directly from the shell or serve with another dish.  Enjoy!

So I’m a little late on the uptake for this one.  I tried my damnedest to find some way to watch it on the TGDoR, but nothing really wanted to work out for me on that day, period, and I wound up stranded at my trans-non-sympathetic friend’s house.  He accepts me well enough, but he doesn’t really see that there’s a tragedy going on with these people, thinks the surgery is “cosmetic” and didn’t do more than shrug when I told him what day it was, or the Statistics.  I started thinking, sometimes the ones that don’t care are worse than the ones who damn us.

But then I watched Boys Don’t Cry.

Don’t get me wrong, I know the story front to back, watched the documentary on Youtube, read the blogs and news journals, but they don’t take you into the experience of the story like the movie does.  And I tend to relate very heavily to a given character when I watch a movie, whether I’ve got much in common with him or not.  Brandon was Me in too many ways for me to even feel comfortable with, before we even got to the bad part of the movie.  (Well, except in the juvenile delinquent sort of way.)

Anyway, I got to sit down properly with my boyfriend last night and watch it (until his mom got home, at which point I got to sit down awkwardly and stiffly and watch it.  I don’t think she likes me and she’d like me even less if she knew I was a guy.)  But as awful as it was, it was worth watching.  He gripped my hand tight through the worst of it.  The rape scene WAS the hardest part to watch, but I think most of the horror of it all washed over my head until the end of the movie.  I think I sat there staring blankly at the screen for about five minutes.  And then his mom told us dinner was on the stove and she left the room, and then I got my plate and sat with it and I couldn’t eat, and then I noticed there were tears dripping onto my plate, and I just sat there like a statue until reality snapped back and I had to go to the bathroom to blow my nose.

I’m trying to think of the only other movie that made me cry.  I can’t remember.

(Might have been Wrath of Khan.)

So on one hand it kinda left me feeling scarred for life, and on the other hand it brought home how dangerous it is out there, really sort of made the danger and hurt mine to own and internalize, really sparked a spirit to do something about this in me.  I’m not sure what yet, but it’s brewing.  After all, I’m only 20.

…

And that brings home another point.  Last night I stared at my boyfriend’s calendar and started shaking when I realized I have no more than three weeks to come out to my dad if I want him to know about this before my 21st birthday.

I don’t know how to cope.

I’m just scared of how things are going to change around here when he knows.  We’re really tight these days; he’s slowly been turning me into a Trekkie by ordering the first season of Star Trek through Netflix.  Whenever we go out to do yardwork or something together, I call him Captain and he calls me Mr. Spock.  It’s really dorky but it’s something we share, and I think he’s somehow slowly coming to understand me by it.  I don’t want it to end, but in that same way, I don’t want our relationship, as good as it is, to be fake in any way.  I don’t want to be whatever he wants me to be just to preserve our friendship.  I have more respect for him than that.

…

On a happier note, I came up with a name for my… upper region that’s better than “tumors” or even “moobs”.  They are my chestnuts.

wOOt

Today’s run (actually scheduled for yesterday) was 13 Miles LSD (Long Slow Distance.) I try to run on trails for my weekend runs since my December run will be on the trails.

As I drove toward the trailhead, the weather began to get pretty foggy. I wasn’t expecting a sunny day but I wasn’t  expecting quite so much white stuff, either.

I packed my hydration pack with some Gu and Accel energy gels as well as my camera, phone and kleenex. I grabbed a trail map and was off.

The trail was a little bit damp but very runnable. Unfortunately I didn’t really feel like running. Another “blah” day. I found myself looking forward to the uphills so that I could walk. I was determined to stick to the schedule 13 miles, though.

I liked the fog and stopped several times to take pictures. At one point, the fog was so heavy that it looked like a very light rain coming down. I had to pause or slow down several times during my run to wipe the beads of water off of my glasses.

I have run on this trail before and I passed some signs that I hadn’t seen before: “Chestnuts gathered off the trail are not free for the taking.” The notice further advised the offender to continue up the trail to pay for any gathered chestnuts. I don’t even know what a chestnut looks like, but my usual habit when in nature is to take a picture rather than to take a memento. So, I took a picture of the sign.

Warning Notice to Chestnut Gatherers on the Trail!

Soon afterwards, I passed the trailer from where the chestnuts were being sold. Honey was also available. I saw that business was — while not actually booming — occurring. I later found out that people could be supplied with gloves and a bucket if they wanted to pick their own chestnuts.

Today I took a slightly different route when I arrived at the junction of Peters Creek and Long Ridge Trails. Normally, I avoid Long Ridge because it is an immediate climb from the junction. Today, because I felt like walking, I chose that route. Plus, it was fun to see a different trail. It was a pretty intense climb for about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile, though. Coming back would be more fun though I had to take care because the trail was slippery from the wet weather.

No View at Vista Point

I came across a stone bench overlooking what was probably a beautiful view under clearer circumstances.

I continued for 6.53 miles and then turned around. I felt like I should make better time on the return because I would have more downhills on the return. Plus, I was highly motivated. I wanted a vanilla latte.

The run back was pretty uneventful. I ran into bicyclists who were struggling a little bit on the muddy, uphill trails.

I returned to the start and saw that my watch said 12.94 miles. I was .06 miles short. I turned around and ran back down the trail for about .03 miles and then turned back again. Yes, I’m one of those runners. If I’m supposed to run 13 miles, it will be 13 miles. Or more. But not less.

I did have a little bit of discomfort during this run. My Achilles were  tight from about the halfway point until the end of the run. I stretched them a little when I finished the run but I should be stretching them regularly. The arch on my left foot was also hurting a little bit. This would be a problem that Ibuprofen would be solving later.

After the run, I drove to the chestnut stand to buy some chestnuts. I don’t even know how — or if you even have to — cook chestnuts. I thought that at the least I could roast them, right? Isn’t that what the song says? I picked up 1-1/2 pounds thinking that I could figure out the rest later. It turned out that I was lucky to stop by today; it was the last day for the chestnut stand.

An hour later, I was warm at home, Googling chestnut recipes.

Rinsing hawthorn berries

I started the day with a nourishing tea made of pine needles, rose hips, mint and mallow greens, all gathered within a half block of my apartment in the city. It was more like a broth than a tea, because mallow has a gooey quality that thickened the mixture and gave it a hearty texture. Mallow is a prolific weed that grows close to the ground on sidewalks all over the city. It has rounded leaves and distinctive little fruits that look like green cheesewheels — and they actually taste like little cheesewheels, too!

Herbalists consider mallow to be a moistening herb, and they use its roots topically to treat skin irritations and internally to soothe the stomach and respiratory tract. In western society we distinguish between food and medicine, but other cultures consider them interchangeable. The Ayurvedic tradition, for instance, closely links the diet to health, encouraging the use of herbs as daily tonics to support bodily functions and prevent illness.

Rose hips are widely known for their high Vitamin C content, but native people used all parts of the plant for a wide array of medicinal purposes. The flower petals are said to help heartburn, the roots treat diarrhea, and the seeds can be used to combat muscle aches, according to Gregory L. Tilford’s book “Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West.”

Click here to read the rest at CultureChange.org

Chestnuts and Brussels sprouts are a classic pair—the toasty, rich nuts balance the sprouts.  This dish cuts down on the holiday oven gridlock because it can be done on the stovetop.

RECIPE

On Monday, Mimi was suffering from the remnants from a cold and was feeling too miserable to do much of anything. Housebound, I realized it was the perfect day to deal with the mountain of chestnuts that we had and decided to spend the morning with Mimi, making marrons glacés, candied chestnuts.

The morning sun filtered through the kitchen window and seemed to offer some kind of solar blessing to our project. We proceeded with great enthusiasm. At first.

To prepare chestnuts for cooking, (1) split them into two halves and boil for 7.5 minutes. Transfer immediately to a bowl of ice water. (2) The shell will slip off easily, (3) leaving behind only the brown skins to remove.

These are the instructions for blanching chestnuts that I found on-line. I’ve delineated the steps for a reason.

The first step, cutting the chestnuts in half, was challenging in its way, though not impossible. I blanched them as directed and then peeled off the outer shells, no problem. Notice, however, that these instructions do not offer a handy adjective to provide an idea about the degree of difficulty for the third step, removing those brown skins. There’s a reason for that.

That brown skin was something else again. Sometimes, I could get my paring knife underneath the skin and it would slip right off. When that happened, I felt in sync with the ancient rhythms of my ancestors, who undoubtedly performed this task back in the boonies of France.

Then there were the “rogue” chestnuts, whose skins simply would not come off without a lot of effort. Those were roughly treated, the skin peeled away as inefficiently as necessary by a cook whose small, sick child was growing increasingly tired of the chestnut project. Nearly two hours into the job, I finally had one quart’s worth of peeled chestnuts. Witness:

Yes, that is all there is. Luckily, it was enough.

To preserve chestnuts: simmer chestnuts, along with a split vanilla bean, in a small sauce pan at a low temperature until fork tender. This may take as long as two hours. Before cooking, weigh the chestnuts and prepare a sugar and water solution of equal weight. Simmer the sugar syrup over low heat until it thickens. This may take as long as two hours. When both the chestnuts and the syrup finish, drain the chestnuts, return them to the saucepan, submerge in the sugar syrup, add a slug of vanilla, and simmer at a low temperature until the chestnuts candy. This may take as long as an hour and a half.

It was slow going, but didn’t require much work on my part. Here are some blurry photographs of the results:

Am I happy with preserved chestnuts?

Well…I’m not one to complain about the workload, but really, this was too much for me. The tips of my fingers are shredded. It’s definitely not a job to do with a small child, especially not one who is already fractious.

The candied chestnuts and their syrup are, however, really fabulous over brown sugar ice cream.