Chestnut flour cookies with coffee and chocolate chip

It is great to be back on track! Okay, it's been only a few days, but I caught something that kept me away from cooking and even eating! Anyway, today when cleaning the kitchen I found some leftover chestnut flour. Immediately I had the idea to bake some kind of cookie. Dark chocolate and coffee seemed to be a good idea to combine with the intense chestnut flour.

Ingredients:
100 g chestnut flour
50 g butter
30 g cane sugar
2 tablespoons dark chocolate chip
2-3 tablespoons coffee

For the cookies mix all the ingredients together and knead a smooth dough. Form a roll and wrap in plastic foil. Chill for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Unwrap dough and cut in about half a centimeter thick slices and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Sweet potato gnocchi in sage butter with walnut, date and a touch of freshly grated orange zest

Being on a sugar free month, it took me a while to get back on track. Zizi, a fellow Hungarian blogger invited us to join her challenge, and I felt it would be a great idea, so I started it also. After a few days, surprisingly, I am not so eager to have a bite of chocolate or a piece of cake, however it is indeed tough!  So today's lunch was cooked in order to please my sweet tooth, without any type of sugar, honey or syrup. In order to get most out of the sweet potato I baked it in the oven. Among sugar I also leave white flour aside for a month, so therefore I used chestnut flour. The gnocchi was served with date, walnut and crispy sage leaves. The secret ingredient is the fresh orange zest that gives it a great kick at the end. Don't worry, sweet is not the main flavour of the dish, because some vintage gouda just brings the perfect balance!

Ingredients:
250 g sweet potato (weighed baked and peeled)
50 g cream cheese
30 g vintage gouda
100 g chestnut flour
butter
date
walnut
few sage leaves
gouda
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C, wrap sweet potatoes in foil and bake for 50-60 minutes. Peel baked sweet potatoes and once cool puree together with the cream cheese. Stir in grated cheese, chestnut flour and season with sald and pepper. Pour mixture into a plastic bag and over simmering water cut it into the desired size with a help of scissors. Gnocchi are ready when they swim on top. In a saucepan melt butter over low heat and bake sage leaves until crispy. Add sliced date and chopped walnut and fry for a few minutes. During that the butter will turn brown, that is exactly what you want. Now add gnocchi and mix everything together, finally stir in some freshly grated orange zest and serve with vintage gouda.

Chestnut flour - apple pancakes with caramelised chestnuts

What a cold, foggy and dampy autumn weather, actually just the way it should be in November! So after the morning walk with the dog I felt that I need a treat to boost a little my mood. I had some apple pancakes on mind sprinkled with loads of cinnamon sugar, the way it should be. But then I spotted the bag of chestnut flour on the counter and I decided to use it for the pancake batter. That gave me the impulse to serve it with some caramlised chestnuts and as I had no syrup in the pantry I made a quick caramel sauce.

Ingredients:

for the pancakes:
150 g chestnut flour
50 g buckwheat flour
1 egg
1 apple
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
250-300 ml milk
for the caramel sauce:
50 g sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon butter
6-7 tablespoons cream
for the chestnuts:
20 roasted chestnuts
3 tablespoons cane sugar
1 teaspoon butter
2 tablespoons apple juice

For the pancake sift together the chestnut and the buckwheat flour, then whisk in the egg, the grated apple, melted butter and milk and whisk until it turns into a smooth batter. At the end stir in the cinnamon and the vanilla extract. I think there is no need to add any sugar, after all it is going to be served with caramel sauce. Bake the pancakes over medium heat. For the sauce melt sugar with water over low heat and as soon as it caramelise add butter and cream and cook for 4-5 minutes. For the chestnuts melt cane sugar and when it gets golden brown add the chestnuts, butter and the apple juice and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until reduced.

Chestnut cake with pear

Cooked or roasted: chestnuts have always been my most favourite treat during my childhood and so they are nowdays. I haven't had chestnut puree for years meanwhile, so I bought a pack last weekend. Instead of serving it as vermicelles I decided to bake something with it. It was also a great opportunity to use some of the treasured chestnut flour. I also added some pears, and if pears, well then chocolate is also not far, right? To make the whole thing a little more exciting, I flavoured the cake with anise and orange. By the way, don't forget to serve a nice portion of beaten heavy cream with it! It's a must!

Ingredients:

for the cake:
100 g butter
100 g cane sugar 100 g chestnut puree
50 ml orange juice
zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground anise
2 eggs
50 g ground hazelnut
50 g chestnut flour
50 g buckwheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 pears
for the glaze: 
20 g butter
50 ml milk
75 g dark chocolate

Preaheat the oven to 180°C. Beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in the chestnut puree, orange juice and zest, vanilla extract, anise and the egg yolks. Peel pears and cut in about half a centimeter sized cubes. Sift chestnut and buckwheat flour among the baking powder on top of the batter and stir until it is mixed well. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold it into the batter. Finally stir in the pear and pour batter onto a 18 cm round baking form. Bake cake for 40-50 minutes. For the glaze melt all the ingredients over low heat and stir until it is well mixed. Pour it over the cold cake and decorate with coarsly chopped hazelnut.

Chestnut Soup with Marsala and Cranberry stuffed Ricotta Dumplings

Yesterday, I wrote it pretty confident, that I have a couple of recipes on stock. Well, it turned out that this soup is the last one. I have already mentioned a couple of times that cranberries are just gorgeous in combination with clove. The last kick was given by these ricotta dumplings, that are actually also great for dessert, so if you decide to make it, go for a double portion. It is worth it!

Ingredients:
for the soup:
400 g chestnut
1 tabelspoon butter
1 shallot
50 ml marsala
400 ml chicken or veal stock
100 ml cream
2 cloves
salt, pepper
for the dumplings:
100 g ricotta
1 egg yolk
1/5-2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons semolina
100 g cranberries
50 g sugar
2 pinches of ground clove
25 ml orange juice

Boil chesnuts for 25 minutes, let it cool and peel, you should have about 150-200 g of chestnuts. Sautee onion in butter, and peeled chesnuts, pour marsala over it, add cloves and as soon as the wine has reduced pour stock over it and cook for 10-15 minutes.Remove clove and puree soup together with the cream. Season with salt, pepper and some more Marsala.

For the dumplings mix together ricotta, egg yolk, flour and wheat groat, then let it stand for 30 minutes. For the filling cook cranberries with the sugar and ground clove in orange juice for 5-7 minutes, then press it through a sieve and set aside to cool. Make 4 to 6 small dumplings: flatten the ricotta dough and put a small portion of cranberry puree in the middle. Cook dumplings in simmering water, they are ready as soon as they swim on the top.

Chestnut Soup

The chesnut is probably native in the Caucasus region, in the mountain area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The romans did not only use the fruit of the chestnut tree, but also made kitchen utensils out of chestnut wood and they also planted chestnut trees across Europe while on their various campaigns.


I have spent the whole morning peeling cooked chestnuts, because I planned to prepare a soup for lunch. The most important ingredient is patience, but when the chestnuts are peeled the rest is done within a couple of minutes. Of course you can use frozen, canned or dried chestnuts as well, but I would not recommand to do so. I believe that nothing can replace the taste of fresh chestnuts.

Ingredients:
200 g chestnuts, cooked and peeled
100 g pumpkin
1 small onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
600 ml vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 orange
mace
salt, pepper

Precook chestnut and peel. Sautee onion in olive oil, add chesnuts and sliced pumpkin and sautee for a few minutes together with mace. Pour stock over it and cook for 20-25 minutes, after puree. Season with salt, pepper, fresh orange juice and zest. Serve with orange blossom coated chestnuts, fresh sage and cream if desired.

Chestnut Flour Pasta

Looking back on the passed 2 years as a food blogger, I realize that I went through a couple of big changes as far as cooking is concerned. If I browse through my old posts, I discover dishes, that now I would prepare completly different, or some I probably wouldn't even think of to cook. As this post is about pasta, let's see how my habits of cooking pasta changed. First of all, now I always prepare fresh pasta, unless I use spaghetti or conghilie, - that is my absolute favourite pasta shape. If I look at those posted Bolognese, I always smile and say, yeah nice try girl. Since long I am aware that actually there is no such thing like Spaghetti Bolognese in Italy, only ragu Bolognese and that there are as many ragus as regions. For example in Bologna there is no milk or cream in it, but if you travel about 30 kms to Modena you find it. In no way there is garlic in it and so on and on. I guess I have read and watched enough about this delicious dish, that I could talk about it for hours. Just like Carbonara! Everytime I see recipes for Carbonara with cream it shakes me. No problem, if one cooks it that way, but then do not call it Carbonara. Well, I am kind of going for tradtion in cooking and before I cook something I do a lot of research. I just love to read about food. Another change is that, I hated cooked tomatoes in the past, so no pasta with sugo di pomodoro for me. Not so long ago, I found out that sugo can indeed be delicious! Now I love it and can't get enough. After all, I missed this dish for years! The same applies to garlic. Meanwhile I use loads of garlic, and I even have more than one type in my pantry ( for example the pink garlic of Lautrec, the Italian Alio Rosso di Nubia and the smoked garlic from France) and some fresh garlic growing on my window ledge.


What became more and more important to me during these years is to cook with seasonal products and buy them directly from farmers or small manufactures, at least as far as it is possible. I rather buy less, but good quality. So enough "blabla", let's go back to the chestnut flour pasta that I served among a porcini coulis à la Roux.



Ingredients:
100 g chestnut flour
100 g whole grain flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Whisk whole grain flour, chestnut flour and salt together. Make a hole in the middle, add the eggs and the olive oil and with a help of a fork mix it together. When the dough is getting viscous knead it with your hands until it is smooth. Let it stand for 1 to 2 hours in room temperature. Roll out with the help of a pasta machine and cut in any shape you desire.

Chestnut Pancakes

How I love the citrus season in winter! So many kinds to discover, so many colours, tastes and forms! In one shop they sell a special kind right from Sicily and I can tell you it is a dream! It is only a pity that I forgot its name... Anyway, I bought a bag of chestnut flour somewhen last year and I have many plans with it. I adore roasted chestnuts and therefore I was more than curious about the flour. Besides it comes right from Ticino, from the southernmost canton of Switzlerland, where chestnut trees are typical. Since yesterday I've been craving for oranges, so I thought it would be a nice combination with something baked out of chestnut flour. I decided to prepare pancakes and served among a lavender infused orange syrup.


Ingredients:
100 g chestnut flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon cane sugar
125 ml milk
2 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
clarifed butter for frying


Whisk all ingredients together and let it stand for 30 minutes. Heat a saucepan with clarifed butter and fry the pancakes for 2-3 minutes from both sides.

Three Years of Weekend Herb Blogging - Chestnut

Weekend Herb Blogging, celebrates its 3rd birthday, an event created by Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen. The new WHB Chief is going to be Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything at least once, she is going to do all the management of the event. So now back to this incredible 3 years of WHB and let's see with what we are going to celebrate the anniversary: this time we should blog about our favorite herb, vegetable or fruit.


As it is getting colder and colder outside, leaves falling from the trees, these are signs that it is time again for chestnuts! Can you imagine anything more lovely on a cold winter afternoon, while walking on the snowy streets, than a package of roasted chestnut? I adore the smell of the roasting cart and how the chestnut warm not only your hands, but your soul.
In my childhood my mom cooked me often chestnut, and I remember I could hardly wait until they were ready. At Christmas we always roast some at home and then the whole house is filled with the lovely smell of this gorgeous fruit.


The sweet chestnut was introduced into Europe from Sardis, in Asia Minor; the fruit was then called the 'Sardian Nut. It has been a staple food in Southern Europe, Turkey and southwestern and eastern Asia for millennia, largely replacing cereals where these would not grow well, if at all, in mountainous Mediterranean areas. Alexander the Great and the Romans planted Chestnut trees across Europe while on their various campaigns. The Greek army is said to have survived their retreat from Asia Minor in 401-399 B.C. thanks to their stores of chestnuts. Ancient Greeks like Dioscorides and Romans such as Galen, wrote of chestnuts to comment on their medicinal properties – and of the flatulence induced by eating too much of it. To the early Christians chestnuts symbolized chastity. Until the introduction of the potato, whole forest-dwelling communities which had scarce access to wheat flour relied on chestnuts as their main source of carbohydrates. In some parts of Italy a cake made of chestnuts is used as a substitute for potatoes.

The fruit can be peeled and eaten raw, but it then can be somewhat astringent especially if the pellicle is not removed.


The other way of eating the fruit which does not involve peeling, is to roast them. Any method of cooking requires to score the fruit beforehand, else the flesh expands and the fruit explodes. Once cooked its texture is similar to a baked potato, with a delicate, sweet, nutty flavour.
Chestnuts can be dried and milled into flour, which can then be used to prepare breads, cakes, pancakes, pastas (it is the original ingredient for "polenta", known in Corsica as "pulenda"), used as thickener for stews, soups, sauces..., . The flour can be light beige like or darker . It is a good solution for long storage of a nutritious food. Chestnut bread keeps fresh for as long as two weeks.

A fine granular sugar can be obtained from the fermentation of the juice, as well as a beer; and the roasted fruit provides a coffee substitute.

The nuts can also be eaten candied, boiled, steamed, grilled, roasted or fried (fritters), in sweet or savoury recipes. They can be used to stuff vegetables, poultry, fowl and other edibles.They are available fresh, dried, ground, canned (whole or in puree).

Candied chestnuts (whole chestnuts candied in sugar syrup, then iced) are sold under the French name marrons glacés or Turkish name kestane şekeri ("sugared chestnuts"). They appeared in France in the 16th century. Chestnuts are picked in autumn, and candied from the start of the following summer for the ensuing Christmas. Thus the marrons glacés eaten at Christmas are those picked the year before.

Chestnuts' taste vary slightly from one to the next but is somewhat sweet and certainly unique. (source:wikipedia)


I baked a chestnut cake today, that it great with a cup of coffee and a ball of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with caramel sauce. Here you find 2 other chestnut recipes.


Ingredients:
150 g butter
150 g cane sugar
3 eggs
200 g flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
zest of a 1/2 orange
150 g cooked chestnut
3 tablespoons chesnut liquer

Preheat oven to 200°C. Whisk butter and sugar for about 10 minutes until fluffy. Whisk in eggs one by one. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, orange, chestnut liquer and chestnuts. Pour batter in a buttered form and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Chestnut Balls

It is a nice combination of nuts and chocolate. The kick is the sherry.



Ingredients:
200 g chestnut
50 g walnut
50 g hazelnut
50 g dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa)
8 g vanilla
1 teaspoon acacia honey
3 tablespoons sherry

For coating:
dark cocoa powder
grated coconut

Boil chestnut for about 30 minutes, after peel.
Add walnut, hazelnut, chocolate, sherry and mix in a blender.
Add vanilla and honey.
Form balls and coat in cocoa and coconut flakes.

Bulgur Chestnut Patties

These patties are really savoury and delicious. It is important to use fresh chestnut, otherwise it is not the real stuff. Yeah it is quite time consuming to peel the cooked chestnut but I think it is worth it, because once I made it out of deep frozen chestnuts and it was almost not eatable for me.


Ingredients:
150 g bulgur
2,5 dl bouillon
olive oil
1 onion
1 carrot
100 g pea
2 eggs
5 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoon cheese
150 g cooked chestnut
rosemary
salt
pepper


Cook bulgur in bouillon for 10 minutes.
Rest it for about 20 minutes.
Heat oil in a saucepan, add chopped onion, carrot, pea, chestnut, rosemary, salt, pepper. Add some bouillon and cook till it is reduces.
Add bulgur, eggs, flour, cheese.
Form patties and fry.