Chestnuts

Organic Chestnut flour………..

Our chestnuts (Chataigne) are sourced in the hills of the Ardeche region of southern France. The region has recently received DOC status for the Chataigne D`Ardeche. In this perfect climate with its mountainous chestnut forests, a genetic resource of 80 old varieties of chestnut are found, some being 800 years old. Chataigne are used in the local diet, now much celebrated in gastronomy as important terroir, and the dishes are well documented such as breads, cakes and tarts.

Chestnuts are low in calories and a rich source of complex carbohydrates, also containing dietary fibre. They are rich in Vitamin C, and contain other vitamins including Vitamin A, Folates, the B vitamin complex and minerals, in short a rich natural food with delicious smoky-sweet flavour. Our chestnut flour has many culinary applications, search the site for inspiring recipes.

CASTAGNACCIO…rustic chestnut slice…for 6.

• 400 g sweet chestnut flour
• 50 g peeled pine nuts
• 6 nuts (e.g. hazelnuts or almonds) cracked into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
• Peel of one orange, finely sliced
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• A pinch of salt

Method

1. Use some of the olive oil to oil a baking tin. Sieve the chestnut flour, and pour it into a large mixing bowl. Add a pinch of salt, the orange peel and half a litre of water. Stir well into a fine liquid batter (make sure there are no lumps at all). Add the rest of the olive oil.
2. Pour the mixture into an oiled baking tin: make sure that the mixture is around 1 cm thick.Add the rosemary leaves, pine nuts and cracked nuts.
3. Bake in a hot oven at 150° C for about 45 minutes. The mixture won't really rise, so don't worry. You can now eat the chestnut cake by itself or with ice cream

CHESTNUT POLENTA w SAUSAGES.......

This is great winter fare.

Polenta was originally made with chestnuts or Chick peas or buckwheat before the introduction of Corn, so this is a traditional dish. Many toppings can go on Chestnut Polenta as long as they are a bit saucey, so try it out…..

Polenta:

500g chestnut flour

1litre water

1 teaspoon salt.

Bring the water to a boil, add the salt. Hover ready with a strong whisk and pour in the flour, whisking rapidly. It shouldn’t lump if you are fast enough. The easier way is to reserve half of the water, and mix it with the flour, bring the rest to a boil and stir in the batter while whisking/stirring rapidly. When it boils, turn the heat to medium and continue stirring with a wooden spoon for 10minutes until the polenta is cooked. Turn it out onto a wooden table or suitable receptacle to cool. It can be cut into chunks for serving.

Sausages:

4-6 good sausages, depending on your taste. I like to make this with spicey merguez sausages.

1 brown onion

5 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

300ml tomato passata

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper

Fresh parsley and or coriander

2 tablespoons EV olive oil

Chop the onion and garlic finely and sauté in the olive oil with the seeds and sausages over medium heat until the Onions are starting to cook. Add the salt and the passata and bring up to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Passata can vary in thickness and you may need to add more to keep it juicy.

Finely chop or pound the green herbs, use liberal amounts , and stir through the mix before serving. Sometimes, depending on the sausages, its wise to chop them into chunky pieces once cooked and return to the mix. Place pieces of  polenta on the plate, cover with sausages and sauce, a good grind of pepper…….this just needs some crisp lettuce to accompany it.

Added by: johndownes