Get foraging, then take some tips on how to cook these little gifts into a nourishing soup
Eliza Acton has six recipes for chestnuts: a soup, a stuffing, a stew, with sausages, as part of a wonderful-sounding custard, and also boiled, noting that some chestnutsrequire to be boiled nearly or quite an hour, others little more than half the time: the cook should try them occasionally”Once they are soft, she suggests draining, wiping with a coarse cloth and sending them to the table quickly in a hot napkin.
To prepare the fresh chestnuts, score a small X on the flat side of each one – this helps the shell loosen as it cooks. Again, you now have three options: either spread the chestnuts on a baking sheet and roast at 200C /390F/gas 6 for 30 minutes; steam over gently boiling water for 20 minutes; or boil in water for 30 to 60 minutes . Wrap the boiled, roasted or steamed chestnuts in a cotton tea towel to steam.
If you are using dried chestnuts, which are the most economical , they need to be soaked for six to 12 hours , then boiled, before being cooked in the soup . The best way to pre-cook the rehydrated chestnuts is in a pressure cooker, which not only speeds up the cooking time to 25 minutes and saves energy, but maintains nutrients and vitamin C. If you are using vacuum-packed ones, simply unwrap them.
As you might imagine from the combination of ingredients, centuries and places, this soup is a mixture of things, both savoury and sweet, and unthreatening. It’s reminiscent of rice pudding, bread sauce and Sunday stuffing, and also, thanks to the addition of cheese, soup with rice or white risotto.
In a heavy-based soup pan or terracotta dish, warm the butter and olive oil, then gently fry the onion until soft and translucent. Add the crumbled chestnuts, bay leaves and a pinch of salt, then add the stock, milk and mace/nutmeg, and bring to a gentle boil. Bring to a lively simmer for 15 minutes, then add the rice and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, stirring regularly, until the rice is done and the minestra dense.
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