Chestnuts, chestnuts and more chestnuts.

[Cies]

What can I do with them? PIL have 3 trees which are in full production at the moment. It seems such a shame to let the chestnuts just rot on the ground.

So, apart from roasting them whole, what can I do with them?

[Cies]

Anyone? They are lovely just roasted, but I'm sure some lovely mner will have fab ideas for other things too.

[Carmenere]

You could candy them and give them out at Christmas.

[Cies]

How does that work?

[MorticiaAnnSpookington]

make into puree and have marrons mont blanc (sweetened chestnut puree with meringue and ice cream on top...heavenly

[traceybath]

I use them in soup. You could put them in stuffing and stews.

I also do a version of cottage pie but use minced pork/sage/onion/chestnuts with parsnips and potato on top.

Delia and Nigella both have lovely chestnut soup recipes.

[harpomarx]

stuffing?
with brussels sprouts?
think you can make a soup of them, imagine it would be really nice, a bit like jerusalem artichoke soup maybe.

[Cies]

I like the idea of soup and stuffing.

Do I have to peel the chestnuts when they're raw? Does anyone have any tips on doing this? The one time I did it before I almost sliced off my finger!

[MorticiaAnnSpookington]

I think you have to boil them up to loosen skins,esp the brown papery skins, or else bake them

[traceybath]

lots of info about cooking and peeling them here

[Cies]

thanks for that link. I´ll have a go making puree.

[StripeyKnickersSpottySocks]

Chestnut and sweet potato soup

Ingredients:

1.3 kg Sweet potatoes (Approximately 3 potatoes), peeled and roughly chopped into small pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried cumin
2 teaspoons dried cinnamon
200g Chestnuts, cooked and peeled (Vacuum packed or frozen are ideal), roughly chopped
1.5 litres vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish
Sprigs of parsley, finely chopped

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Sauté the sweet potatoes, red onions, cinnamon, cumin and garlic for 5 minutes. Add the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Taste and season accordingly. Transfer half of the soup into a liquidiser or food processor and whiz together. Return this to the saucepan and reheat when ready to serve.

To serve the stylish way: Serve the hot soup in warmed bowls with sprigs of parsley.