Chestnut ideas, please!

mandragora_2

Hi there - we've been away camping in France (brrr!), and were lucky enough to be able to harvest a bagful of fresh chestnuts.

I know how expensive they are, so I couldn't resist them, but now I've got them home, I'm not sure how to get the best out of them. I've googled and found some straightforward advice about storing them and baking them:

http://homecooking.about.com/od/nuts/a/chestnuttips.htm

(I think I'll be doing this rather than boiling them, as the idea that they could all disintegrate on me would be upsetting, especially as I'm still removing little barbs from the shells from my fingers!).

However, other than baking and eating while warm, I don't have any ideas about what else to do with them. I'm not really into heavy rich stuffings - I'm wondering if they can go into cakes or be used as an addition to icing, or make fancy schmanzy Christmas presents?

Any ideas greatfully received!:)

ragz_2

You can make chestnut puree that can then be used in cakes, or chestnut cream which can be eaten on its own.
Some good recipes here http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search.do?keywords=chestnut&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=&filterItem=
but I'm sure there's a thread on chestnuts somewhere, I think I posted on it the other day...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/90419

adelight

You can make chestnut flour(too much effort imo), chestnut puree, use them in savoury dishes(nettle & chestnut risotto is DELICIOUS!). You can make glac! chesnuts, tricky but don't worry because if they crumble you end up with a delicious chestnut flavour syrup with little chunks of chestnut in it that's sooo nice on pancakes or topped on ice-cream/cream/meringue.
Check the foraging thread too.