STILL NEW YORK-HUNGRY

37. Nonno Aurelio's Castagnaccio (Hearty Fall carbs)

When I stumbled over this recipe, I was immediately intrigued, because I like fall-y fruit and veg... and never used chestnut flour before.

As it's a rather plain & simple recipe, and Roman cuisine is lastly very simple – I should've remembered this – I thought I have it added to my novel family Romano's (fictional) restaurant menu.

Granted, the castagnaccio is not a Roman speciality but originally comes from Tuscany. But Italians aren't picky eaters – what tastes, they eat, no matter where they are. Basta.

As the name already indicates, castagnaccio the Italian word for Kastanie, which is the German word for chestnut... which are harvested in Tuscany in fall.

However – and here a hint at my Capital Mistake – I found one of the recipes, which I used to make this "compound cake", in my Roman cookbook by Deborah Ferrini-Kreitmayr, Roma in Cucina. The "other" half is by Silvana Bini, from her cookbook Nonna's italienische Küche (Nonna's Italian Kitchen).

Anyway, my mistake was to mesh up the two recipes because I thought the one by Silvana was too plain, starkly going against my premise that Simple = Best.

Thing is: I got the ratios right down to the gram / milliliter, but freely adapted from an old German saying: too many flavors spoil the taste.

Yes, dudes, what I'm saying is that THIS is the FIRST recipe I DIDN'T LIKE!

And not because the cake was hearty instead of sweet. And, again, NOT because of the recipe itself but because of me wanting to make a good thing better by adding more Oomph!

HOWEVER, that doesn't mean this is automatically a BAD dish

I'll do this entry a bit different than usual, as I will first describe what I did / used, and then give you the recipes I used.

Maybe when you learn from my mistakes this might be really good.




Serves: 6 - 8 pieces

Prep Time: about 1 hr PLUS 15 minutes cooling off

Degree of Difficulty: Easy




WE NEED => for SOME ingredients from BOTH recipes I've taken the MEAN!

225 gr / 8 oz. chestnut flour
160 ml / 5.5 US fl.oz. water
1 twig rosemary
1 tbsp Olive Oil Extra Vergine, PLUS some to grease the baking dish.
30 gr / 1 oz. pine nuts PLUS "some more" for decoration – I used about 0.5 oz.


from SILVANA'S recipe:

+ 1/4 tsp salt


from DEBORAH'S recipe:

+ 1/2 tbsp sugar Doof Me used the whole tbsp
+ 1/2 tbsp raisins Same as above, PLUS used sultanas


I suppose that the latter 2-3 – and their MIS-ratio – "killed" the dish and made it kinda "inedible" for me.


Since YOU are SMART people, though, YOU will learn from my mistakes and do the following. You'll use


EITHER:

1 twig rosemary
250 gr / 8.8 oz. chestnut flour
120 ml / 4 US fl.oz. water plus more when the dough's too dry; I'd do it tbsp-wise
1/4 tsp salt
50 gr / 1.75 oz. pine nuts
Olive Oil => For greasing the baking dish


OR:

1 tbsp raisins
1 tbsp pine nuts (PLUS 1/2 - 3/4 tbsp for decoration... or not)
200 gr / 7 oz. chestnut flour
200 ml / 6.75 US fl.oz. water

2 tbsp Olive Oil PLUS more for greasing the baking dish, just enough to brush-grease it

1 tbsp sugar
1 twig rosemary



I think using the ACTUAL recipe, whichever you prefer, will make it yummy. Unusual, but yummy... I hope. Anyway,




WE DO => again for EACH variation


DEBORAH's:


1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.

2. Soak the raisins in lukewarm water for 5 minutes. Roast the pine nuts in a non-stick pan, without oil. If you use them, place the pine nuts for decoration in water.

3. Gently mix chestnut flour + water until soft. Thoroughly mix in raisins, roasted pine nuts, olive oil + sugar.

4. Grease a 20 cm / 7.8 in springform / shallow baking dish with olive oil and add the dough. Wash, shake dry, pluck off the needles from the rosemary twig and scatter them over the dough. Here another mistake I roughly chopped them; probably a bad idea, too, because yet another taste messing with the whole Take the remaining pine nuts out of the water and scatter them over the dough, too.

5. In the middle of the oven, bake the cake for about 30 minutes OR until cracks appear on the surface. Since every oven's different, this can take longer / shorter so take care

6. After taking out of the oven, let the cake rest for 15 minutes, then, yet warm,

7. Serve.




SILVANA's variation


1. Wash, shake dry + pluck the needles off the rosemary twig.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C) / 350°F (320°F) top / bottom heat (fan/convection).

3. Fill chestnut flour + salt into a bowl and gradually add the water while thoroughly mixing the dough. It shall be velvety + clot-free Is it too firm, add 0.5 - 1 US fl.oz. water. NOT more, it shan't be too liquid!

4. Grease the springform / shallow baking dish with olive oil and fill in the dough – and, if necessary, smooth with a spatula as it shall have an even height! Sprinkle rosemary + pine nuts on top.

5. Bake for 30 minutes. BUT: it may not become too dark on the surface. Do a toothpick test: it shall come out clean and the cake be soft yet also firm And since every oven is different that may take longer / shorter.

6. Remove from the oven, let cool in the baking dish until warm, then

7. Serve.




Guten Hunger & Buon Appetito!