Reflecting on the Past - Chestnut Soup

It's fairly common for one to reflect upon one's past during at the turn of the year.  Well I, being a somewhat off-centered person, began reflecting a little further back that was probably necessary; to a time before I was born (It's a bit of a rabbit trail, but bear with me) To a time before the Chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) that decimated the American Chestnut trees.  To a time when the Chestnut was celebrated in more than just a song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire). To a time when these sweet mahogany bundles of deliciousness graced the winter table more often than just as a Thanksgiving stuffing ingredient or a birthday party at the home of Farmer Gray. (Pop, Pop, Pop)

Yes... The Chestnut.

It lives on in songs of winter celebrations, but that pretty much covers it. Very sad.

Thus I have made a New Year's resolution... To promote the chestnut as a delicious and healthy addition to your winter table.  It's time for the Chestnut to move beyond Thanksgiving and Christmas.  After all, they are "technically" harvested ALL winter; October through March.

Chestnuts contain twice as much starch as potatoes and are the only nut that contains vitamin C (40mg per 100g which is 65% of the RDA)  They are about 44% carbohydrates, of which only 11% are sugars, and contain absolutely NO Cholesterol.  This deficiency in Cholesterol is primarily due to their low oil content.  Their carbohydrate/protein ratio brings them in line with things like Brown Rice and Spring Wheat. Though unlike wheat, chestnuts are gluten free.

Chestnuts should remain refrigerated in the crisper drawer in a paper or mesh bag, for they will go bad fairly quickly after harvesting and will dry out.  Granted, this "drying" out is part of the starch conversion to sugar, which makes the chestnuts sweeter.  So if you have particularly fresh chestnuts, that have no "give" to the shell when pressed upon, you may want to set them out in a cool place and allow them to dry slightly for a couple of days. 

Chestnuts can be frozen, but it effects the flavor and texture; making them slightly mushy.  But, even though I am not using frozen chestnuts in the following recipe, they would be perfect in this particular application.  Since the starch content of Chestnuts is so high, they make a perfect pureed soups...  adding body as well as a heavenly fragrance and flavor. 

This particular soup leans heavily on the concept behind vichyssoise (Potato-Leek Soup), however, I have removed the cream from it in an attempt to showcase the flavor of the chestnut and it's ability to bind a soup into a lovely bisque without any extra "smoothing" agents.

An added bonus is that this recipe is, what I like to call, pseudo-vegan.  Meaning if you simply replace 1 or 2 ingredients it goes from a carnivore meal to a vegan one.  In this case, replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock and your veganized.

Chestnut Soup

12 large Roasted Chestnuts, peeled (about 6 oz or 170g)
2 TB Olive Oil
1 cup (2.5 oz) (70g) Celery, chopped
1 cup (2.5 oz) (70g) Leek, sliced
1/4 tsp ground White Pepper
4 cups Chicken Stock (or Vegetable Stock)
Crispy Shiitake mushrooms (for garnish)
Chopped Celery Leaves (for garnish)


Roast your Chestnuts.... Peel them and set them aside.

Place Olive Oil in a 2 quart saucepan, and set over medium flame.

A couple of minutes later, add the Celery and Leek;

Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are translucent, about 10 minute; then add the Chicken Stock and Chestnuts; then bring to a boil.

Partly cover and reduce the flame; then let everything hang out and simmer until chestnuts are very soft, about 30 minutes.

Puree the hot soup in a blender, in batches.

(don't forget to remove the center lid and cover with a towel to allow for venting... You don't want to wear any of the hot soup)

Run each pureed batch through a strainer (just in case) and into a clean pot.

Add enough Chicken stock (or Vegetable stock) to bring the total liquid up to 6 cups.

Season with White Pepper and place the pot over a low flame to bring the soup back to temperature.

Meanwhile, thinly slice some small Shiitake mushrooms.

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium flame.

Add the Shiitake and saute until crispy.

Drain briefly on a paper towel.

Ladle the hot soup into a bowl and garnish with crispy Shiitake mushrooms and chopped Celery leaves (Chervil is nice too)

Mangia!!
~~

The Great Snail Caper - Lumaconi con Cipolle Caramellate

It's been awhile since I have posted anything.... Partially due to being sick, but mostly because I have been so far behind on "stuff", that I have been playing catch up. Things like my poor neglected GT Cruiser which now has new Shocks and Struts (yeah, that was a pain in the butt), new Rotors and Ceramic pads as well as, FINALLY, a bumper and grille that are all in one piece.

The whole front end has been a mass of zip ties and prayers since some "stoopid head" in Torrence, CA backed into my poor little parked Cruiser and then took off like a bat out of hell, before I could get his/her license number. And, of course, my "full" coverage wasn't as "full" as it should have been, at least not in California... So I did it myself along with a little help from eBay and a very talented auto painter that my brother knows. So, now my "Trash" mobile, doesn't look so trashy anymore. (it still needs new fog lights, because the housings were broken, but I am still waiting on the parts; again, off ebay) LOL

Then there was the B-52's concert (which was completely, totally and utterly AWESOME!) and my cousin's wedding reception in Husum, WA... So I have been a little busy and not really eating all that well over the last couple weeks; which was probably part of how I got sick to begin with. But I am taking my diet back into my own hands. So without further babbling, here is "yet another" of my favorite Pasta dishes. LOL

One word of warning about this dish, cause I learned this the hard way, do not attempt using sweet onions, such as Walla Walla or Maui; they will be over-powered by the capers. You really need the pungency of good old White or Brown onions. This will work well with Trenne (TRAY-nay) also, though this triangular tube shape, as opposed to Penne which is a round tube shape, is kind of hard to find, so I usually opt for Lumaconi (Snail shells), but I have used Penne on multiple occasions.

Lumaconi with Caramelized Onions and Capers

1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 large White or Brown Onions, Sliced thin
Zest of 1 Lemon
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 cup Chicken or Vegetable Stock
16 oz Lumaconi, Penne or Trenne
2 TB Capers, rinsed
1/4 cup Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, minced
Kosher Salt
Cracked Black Pepper
1 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano, Grated

Slice onions thinly (very thinly, they will caramelize faster)

And don't forget to drain and rinse the capers or they will be too strong.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium flame.

Add onions and saute until they begin to turn golden.

Reduce heat and continue to cook until deep brown and caramelized. (about 15-20 minutes)

Add Lemon Zest and Garlic, and cook 2 minutes more.

Deglaze the pan with Lemon juice, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

Add Stock and cook uncovered for 10 minutes, to reduce slightly.

Drop the Lumaconi into salted boiling water and cook about 12 minutes.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water, just in case.

Place pasta in a warm bowl

and add the onion mixture, tossing to incorporate the two.

Add Capers, Salt, Pepper and Parsley, then toss again.

The awesome part about using Lumaconi, is that during the tossing, some of the capers will hide inside the pasta, so while you are enjoying your caramelized onion sauce, occasionally you will get a surprise burst of caper.

Sprinkle with shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano and toss a couple times.

Serve immediately with more grated Parmigiano-Reggiano at the table.

MMMMMM; All carameled onion-y and Lemony with the bite of the occasional caper...

Mangia!!
~~

On The Road to Rome - Spaghetini alla Carrettiera

Since I have been attempting to crack the code of a Vegan Angel Food cake (Which I am still working on) it started me thinking about other dishes that can be classified as vegan. This just happens to be one of them. A favorite among the Roman Cart-Drivers (thus the name) who transported wine from the Alban hills into Rome.

I sometimes use Leeks instead of Shallots or Onion or throw in some red pepper flake and a few chopped tomatoes but the basic recipe is the same. Beware of the label on your Panko. I use Kikkoman or Ian's, both of which have extremely simple ingredient lists -- Wheat Flour, less than 2% of the following, Evaporated Cane Juice, Yeast, Soybean oil, Salt -- Most regular bread crumbs have a bunch of additives as well as eggs, butter, Buttermilk or milk solids in them. Progresso, my fav, is in this group. The Italian, Regular and Garlic & Herb all contain dairy ingredients. So does the Parmesan, of course, but I think that kind of goes without saying.. ;)

Spaghettini alla Carrettiera

3 oz (6 TB) Olive Oil; plus a little extra for tossing the panko
1 Large Onion or 2 Shallots; minced
2-3 cloves of garlic; minced
2 TB Flat-Leaf Parsley; Finely chopped
1 tsp Dried Oregano -or- 1 TB fresh Oregano
3 1/2 TB Panko
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
16 oz Spaghettini

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then salt the water.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Heat Olive Oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.

Add Onion, Garlic, Parsley, and Oregano; saute until translucent; seasoning with Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, toss Panko with a drizzle of Olive oil then toast in the oven for about 7 minutes; tossing twice.

Drop the Spaghettini and boil until al dente (about 6-7 minutes)

When the sauce is done, remove from the flame.

When Panko is toasty brown, remove it from the oven.

Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce in a warm bowl.

Serve with a sprinkling of Toasted Panko and a sprig of Parsley.

Mangia!!
~~

"Cracking" the Eggless Code - Vegan Angel Food Cake

Over the last week, I have become obsessed with this. It HAS to be able to be done, I refuse to believe that it is not possible.

Granted, I am not a Vegan (I know, big surprise huh?) so I don't know much about vegan cuisine and substitutions. BUT, I understand the mechanics behind an angel food cake. So after much research, and even more trial and error...... (It's been a tough "egg" to crack) Yuk Yuk!

Oh, By the way, that whole "1 tsp powdered or 1 TB flake Agar + 1 TB Water - Beat, Chill and Beat again"... Totally Bogus! I don't think anyone has actually TRIED using that as a replacement for egg whites in any recipe. It just keeps getting re-posted on miscellaneous websites, thus propagating what appears to be misinformation.... Either that, or the directions need to be a little more concise. I tried 8 different permutations of this "Agar" option, and each one was a miserable failure at producing anything remotely resembling or behaving like an egg white.

So here are a couple of teaser pics from the first part of the Angel Food Quest...

I will be back later when I run 1 more test.....

The truth is, I messed up... I had no idea that C & H used bone char to process their white sugar... So I am attempting it again with dehydrated Cane juice... But I have to take a few extra steps to ensure that it will work....