On our recent walk from Pampaneira to Bubión we collected fallen chestnuts and apples. Back home, we made delicious chestnut and chorizo soup, followed by apple crumble.
The chestnuts were prepared by scoring a cross in each one (to stop them exploding), adding them to boiling water and simmering for 25 minutes. The softened shell and inner skin were removed while still warm. There must be some knack that we hadn’t got the hang of as we ended up with a crumbly pile of chestnuts. Zero marks for technique, but we did have something to work with.
Sopa de castañas y chorizo
We loosely followed an online recipe from The Moro Cookbook by Sam and Sam Clark. Their restaurant in London has this on the Christmas menu. Here’s the recipe for two people:
- Chop and gently fry an onion, a celery stalk, a carrot and some mild chorizo for 20 minutes until brown and caramelised – 120g of chorizo is recommended (we used 300g)
- Add two thinly-sliced garlic cloves, a teaspoon of crushed cumin seeds, 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh thyme and two crushed dried chillies, stir for one minute
- Add two chopped tomatoes and the chestnut flesh, 500g is recommended (we only had 300g)
- Add a pinch of saffron and 600ml of water
- Simmer for 10 minutes then gently crush with a potato masher
- Sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves and serve
In Lanjarón, the chestnut is celebrated each year on 1st November. No doubt a version of this dish is served up.
For pudding we made apple crumble. It’s a lazy version of apple pie – the crumble being ‘almost-made’ pastry without the faffing around. We added some chestnuts to it, although you could add almonds or hazelnuts.
Considering snow has settled on the Sierra de Lújar, these two dishes are perfect to eat by the fire. And we haven’t even begun roasting chestnuts…
Related posts:
Sopa de castañas y chorizo – get your nuts out…
© con jamón spain
con jamón spain 
ah….we are having a debate in my house as to which stuffing to make for Thanksgiving. hubby wants one with chestnuts in it. I resist. Why? because they’re SO MUCH work!! We used to make a goose every year for Christmas along with apple chestnut stuffing and we did that laborious chore. until the goose got out of our price range. so it has been a while since we’ve made that stuffing. but here is how we always cooked them: you are correct about the cross on the flat side of the nut. spread them on a shallow roasting pan. add a small amount of water and sprinkle liberally with salt. roast at 400 degrees 20-30 minutes, turning frequently (we never turn them btw). allow to stand until cool enough to peel. The only thing I noticed over the years is that we’d get a few bad nuts that don’t peel. you can tell which ones they are as you begin to peel them. good luck with your next batch!! I am so jealous that you got them for free. they are quite “spendy” (Minnesotan for expensive) in these parts 😉
Posted by tobyo | November 19, 2013, 1:57 amWe’ll try it next time with less water and hopefully that will stop them crumbling up. Happy Thanksgiving Day on the 28th!
Posted by con jamón spain | November 19, 2013, 9:26 am