Autumn’s arrival brings with it chestnuts and all its derivatives – amongst these is the aromatic chestnut flour. It is suitable in either sweet or savoury dishes as demonstrated in the signature recipe of castagnaccio (a plain chestnut flour cake).
The Tuscan version of castagnaccio, which mustn’t exceed more than 1cm in thickness, is a richly aromatic recipe containing a significant quantity of extra virgin olive oil and rosemary.
Ingredients
300g of chestnut flour
2 tablespoons of caster sugar (if the flour is high quality, it will result in a sweeter product, therefore you can reduce the quantity of sugar used if you prefer)
Water
A pinch of salt
80g of raisins
100g of pine nuts
2 or 3 walnuts
Extra virgin olive oil
One fresh rosemary sprig
Candied fruit (optional) citrus fruits, figs
Preparation
The batter has to be prepared first, so add together sifted flour, sugar and salt and enough water necessary to obtain a soft dough, but which is not too liquid.
Whilst the dough is resting, soak the raisins to soften, peel and chop the walnuts and then prepare the baking tray.
You can either line the baking tray with baking paper or you can grease the baking tray directly. For the best results we recommend lightly greasing the baking paper.
Take the batter and add in half the raisins, pine nuts, and walnuts, some rosemary needles and a tablespoon of olive oil.
Pour the batter mixture evenly into the baking paper ensuring that it is no more than 1cm thick. Sprinkle the cake with the remaining softened raisins, pine nuts, walnuts and rosemary. Add candied fruit and caramelized figs if you prefer.
Sprinkle with olive oil and put in a preheated oven at 180°C and bake for 30 minutes. The castagnaccio will be ready when there are cracks appearing on the surface of the cake.
It can be served either warm or cold. As an alternative, try and serve it with fresh natural ricotta or some flavoured orange or citrus peel which complement the aromas used in the recipe.
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