Chestnut & Parsnip Soup

Ingredients
- 300g chestnuts (peeled)
- 300g peeled, chopped parsnips
- 40 g butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 leek, white part only
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 600ml chicken or vegetable stock
- 200ml pouring cream
- juice of half a lemon
- Salt & black pepper to taste
Method
- Melt butter in a heavy saucepan and slowly saute onion,
leek and celery.
- Add chestnuts, stock and seasonings and bring to boil.
- Simmer 20 minutes or until chestnuts are soft.
- Set aside 2 tblspns of chestnuts & celery to garnish.
- Puree and pass soup through a fine sieve. Place
back into saucepan.
- Add lemon juice and cream and heat well stirring
continuously as soup can easily catch on the bottom of the
pan. Turn off heat. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- Serve topped with remaining chestnuts and celery.
- Serves 4-6
Courtesy of Michael Ryan, The Range
Restaurant, Myrtleford
Chilli Chestnut Fettucini

Ingredients
- 3 tblspns virgin olive oil
- 1 tspn crushed garlic
- 2 long red chillies, deseeded and finely diced
- 1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 2 cups chestnuts, finely chopped
- 300g cooked fettuccini
- ground black pepper
- shaved parmesan, to taste
Method
- Heat oil in a large non stick frying pan and add garlic,
chilli, chestnuts and parsley and cook until golden and
fragrant.
- Add cooked, drained fettuccini and toss to coat in
chestnut mixture and heat through.
- Serve topped with parmesan.
- Serves 4
"CHOOSE
CHESTNUTS FOR A CHANGE" |
|
Seared Aromatic Beef and Spiced Chestnuts
Ingredients
- 1 kg piece of beef scotch fillet or eye fillet neatly
tied
Marinade
- 3 tblspns olive oil
- 3 cracked whole peppercorns
- 2 cracked whole star anise
- 2.5cm knob fresh ginger, peeled and smashed
- 1 long piece orange peel
- 1 tspn brown or palm sugar
- 160ml red wine
- 60ml mirin or dry sherry
- 40ml soy sauce
Sauce
- 500ml beef stock
- 12-18 peeled chestnuts
- 2 tspns Dijon mustard
Method
- Heat 2 tblspns oil, add aromatics and cook for 30
seconds.
- Add sugar, mirin, soy sauce and wine and simmer 1-2
minutes.
- Remove from heat and cool.
- Place beef in a dish and pour over marinade. Cover
and leave for 3-4 hours turning occasionally.
- Preheat oven to 220oC. remove meat from
marinade, wipe dry.
- Heat oil in an ovenproof pan and sear meat all over.
- Place in oven for 15 mins, then reduce heat to 180oC
and continue roasting (25 mins for rare, 35 mins for medium,
45 mins for well done). Remove and cover with foil for
10-15 mins.
- In a saucepan simmer marinade, stock and chestnuts until
tender. Remove chestnuts and keep warm.
- Strain remaining liquid and return to pan along with any
beef juices. Bring to boil, add mustard and boil 5-10 mins.
Strain.
- Slice the beef and spoon sauce over.
- Serves 4-6
Chestnut & Chocolate Terrine
Ingredients
This terrine is part mousse, part marquise
and very rich. Serve in small slices with cream & berries.
Courtesy of Bille Texler, a chestnut grower.
- 600g chestnuts, peeled.
- 1/4 cup cream
- 125g unsalted butter
- 250g couverture or dark chocolate
- 1 cup castor sugar
- vanilla bean or extract
- 1/4 cup brandy or rum to flavour
Method
- Put peeled chestnuts in water to just cover and vanilla
and simmer till tender.
- Drain and puree with the cream until smooth.
- Beat butter and sugar until white and fluffy.
- Melt chocolate in a double boiler with half cup of
water. Remove from heat.
- When cool add to the butter and sugar mixture.
- Add pureed chestnuts to mixture and flavour with rum or
brandy.
- Turn into a terrine or loaf pan lined with Glad Bake and
chill overnight.
- Unmould and slice with a wet knife.
- Serve with 1 cup whipped cream and berries to decorate.
- Serves 20.
Chestnut Nutritional Information
- Low in total fat and saturated fat (99% fat free)
- Gluten free
- Contains folate, potassium, vitamin C, antioxidants
- Provides dietary fibre
- Low Glycemic Index (GI) for slow release of energy
- 30gm serve provides 217kJ (52 Cal)
Note
1 kilogram of fresh chestnuts yields approx 700g of peeled chestnuts.
|
|
Chestnut Cake

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
- 1 cup chestnut flour
- 1/4 cup hazelnuts
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs, separated
- 1/2 cup mild honey (pref. chestnut honey)
- 1/4 cup sugar
Method
- Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat to
180C.
- Spray a 9" spring-form pan with non-stick spray and dust
with chestnut flour.
- Roast the hazelnuts in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Rub
the nuts in a kitchen towel to remove the loose skins. Some
skin will probably remain. Chop until medium fine in a
food processor.
- Mix together the chestnut flour, baking powder, baking
soda and salt. Then stir in the hazelnuts.
- In another bowl, beat together the egg yolks, oil, honey
and 2 tbsp sugar until thick and pale - about 5 minutes.
- Add the flour mixture and mix at low speed until well
mixed.
- Beat egg whites and a pinch of salt in another bowl with
clean beaters until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining
2 tbsp sugar a little at a time until the whites hold a soft
peak.
- Fold into the cake mix 1/3 at a time until well mixed.
- Pour into cake pan and bake 30 minutes. Then loosely
cover with aluminium foil and bake another 10-15 minutes.
- Place on rack to cool. Remove from tin.
- Dust with icing sugar and serve with whipped cream and
chopped hazelnuts.
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine
Castagnaccio (Italian Chestnut Flour Bread)
Ingredients
Castagnaccio is an ancient unleavened
bread. It is first mentioned in print in the sixteenth
century and it has survived more or less in its original form.
- 115 g sultanas
- 450 g chestnut flour, sieved
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- cold water
- olive oil
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)
- 3 tablespoons pine nuts
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh or dried rosemary
Method
- Cover sultanas with cold water and leave to soak for 15
minutes, drain and dry.
- Mix together the chestnut flour,
salt and stir in enough cold water to make a batter which is
slightly thicker than pancake batter.
- Oil a shallow cake tin and pour in the batter, smooth
it with a spoon, then scatter over the pine
nuts, rosemary and sultanas.
- Drizzle a little more oil over the top and bake in a
moderately hot oven (190 C) for 10-15 minutes or until the
surface is crispy.
- Serve warm or cold with a glass of
chilled white wine.

|
|