farina di castagne (chestnut flour)

upper left corner of the page.  :)   Treat as a nut flour, or non-gluten flour.   

nor is it cooked or candied.  It is simply dried and milled.   I have never cooked with the flour.  I have had candied chestnuts, mashed & cooked,  roasted nuts and chopped up boiled nuts.  Remind me a lot of potatoes.  I suppose you could take a normal wheat bread recipe and replace up to 1/3 of the flour with chestnut flour and see what happens.  I understand it is sweet and has thickening properties, yet gluten free.  You could also roast or brown some chestnut flour before using or brown with some sugar in butter and add milk or water to make a paste.  This could then be used in more recipes like puddings or fillings for rolls or even combined then with bread dough (like mashed potatoes) to make a moist bread.  Cooked and set flour & water gel could be grated and mixed into bread dough just like grated cooked potato.  Might make interesting dark flecks in the crust surface.  Try replacing 1/3 the flour in pancake batter and see what it tastes like.  Do the same with the roasted flour.  Use some to thicken soup.  Or try some in a shortbread cookie recipe.  I can imagine a little nutmeg would be good with chestnut flavor or anything that goes well with potatoes,  chives, caraway, cheese etc.  Crackers?

Hi embth,

Just this morning I pulled up a recipe stored in my computer for fettucine made with chestnut and AP flour! I haven't tried it yet, but am hoping to find some chestnut flour tomorrow on a shopping trip. I regret that I can't say who the author of the recipe is; usually I save that information, but this time I didn't. Anyway, I offer it in case it intrigues you (and a topping recipe follows the pasta recipe).

All the best,  Janie

Chestnut Fettuccine

Recipe Summary
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes for the sauce and 3 minutes for the fettuccine
Yield: 4 Servings

Dough Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup chestnut flour
Pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients
2 medium sized eggs
2 tablespoons tepid water

In a food processor, place all the dry ingredients except for the water. Add the eggs. Start the mixer allowing the ingredients to blend for 30 seconds, then add the water. As soon as it starts to look like it is a heavy corn meal, stop the processor and feel the dough. It should be very dry, but when pinched between your fingers, it should stick together. Don’t add additional water unless the dough is not sticking together. Remove the mixture and knead for 10-15 minutes by hand. The amount of water could vary depending on the humidity.

If you are making the dough by hand, place the flour on a board and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs in the well and mix the wet ingredients into the flour with a fork. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, cover it with a clean kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out.

Using a pasta machine, roll a piece of the dough through each level. Once you have rolled it through the last level the dough will be ready to roll through the noodle cutter of the pasta machine. Rolling the dough through these levels also kneads it. Using the noodle cutter, roll a piece of dough through and take half the noodles and roll them around your hand to form a little nest. Put them on a kitchen towel and let them dry. If you have a pasta hanger, don’t make nests, but hang them to dry.

Note:. Chestnut flour may be found in specialty stores

Sage And Pine Nut Sauce

Recipe Sumary
Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cook Time: 6-7 minutes
Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients
1 lb pasta
12 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup pine nuts
Several leaves of fresh sage
Salt to taste

In a deep pan, boil salted water and cook the fettuccini. If the pasta is boxed, cook according to directions. If the pasta is fresh, it will take less than 3 minutes to cook.

While the water is heating up, prepare the sauce. In a saucepan, melt the butter and the oil. Cut the sage leaves lengthwise and place them in the saucepan along with the pine nuts. Sauté it in the butter and oil, watch the pine nuts very carefully as they will brown very quickly. Remove from the stove as soon as they start to turn golden brown and allow them to finish browning in the hot butter. If the sauce needs more liquid, add a little boiling water from the pasta.

...to you, too! It's a good time to haul out the pasta machine and have some fun. Whatever you decide to try, I look forward to reading about it.

Happy baking in 2012,  Janie