Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [276]
6. Put the cream and sugar in the bowl you had been keeping in the freezer and whip it with a whisk until it stiffens. Use half the whipped cream to cover the top of the chestnut mound, coming about two-thirds of the way down. It should have a natural, “snowed-on” look, so let the cream come down the mound at random in peaks and hollows.
7. Serve the dessert with the remaining whipped cream on the side for those who would like their monte bianco with a little more “snow.”
Ahead-of-time note The chestnut and chocolate mixture can be prepared up to this point a day in advance and refrigerated until you are ready to proceed.
Ahead-of-time note The monte bianco can be completed as described above, and served up to 4 to 6 hours later. Refrigerate it, but do not cover it. Also refrigerate the remaining half of the whipped cream.
Chestnuts Boiled in Red Wine, Romagna Style
How PROVIDENTIAL of chestnuts to be on hand when days are short, and evenings long and cold. As a university student living in an unheated room, I remember almost looking forward to winter, to those days that would end sitting by a fireplace with friends, a pot of boiled chestnuts, and a flask of rough, young wine. My father would say that chestnuts and wine make one tipsy. It hasn’t been demonstrated that the nuts make wine more inebriating, but it is true that a taste of one leads irresistibly to a sip of the other, and vice versa, and it may take a long time to decide, while you continue to try both, whether you want to bring the evening to a close with a bite of chestnut or a swallow of wine.
For 4 servings
1 pound fresh chestnuts, soaked and gashed as described
1 cup dry red wine, preferably Chianti
Salt
2 whole bay leaves
1. Put the gashed chestnuts in a pot with the wine, a tiny pinch of salt, the bay leaves, and just enough water to cover. Put a lid on the pot, and turn on the heat to medium.
2. When the chestnuts are tender—it depends greatly on the freshness of the nuts, it may take 30 minutes or 1 hour—uncover the pot, and allow all but 1 or 2 tablespoons of wine to simmer away. Bring the chestnuts to the table at once, preferably in the pot, or in a warm bowl. Everyone will peel his or her own, which is part of the fun.
Roasted Chestnuts
THERE MAY BE no food scent more enticing than that of chestnuts roasting over hot coals. Unfortunately, the roasted chestnuts most of us are acquainted with are of the street corner variety, hard, dry, half-cooked, and often as not, cold. Yet it is easy to roast chestnuts at home in the oven that will taste just as good as they smell.
For 4 servings
1 pound fresh chestnuts, soaked and gashed as described
1. Preheat oven to 475°.
2. Spread the gashed chestnuts on a baking sheet, and when the oven reaches the preset temperature, put it in on the middle rack. Turn the nuts over from time to time, but not so often to lose heat in the oven.
3. When the chestnuts are tender—it will take between 30 and 45 minutes, depending on their freshness—take them off the baking sheet and wrap them tightly in a cloth towel. They will steam a bit inside the towel, causing the skins to come loose much more easily. After 10 minutes, unwrap and serve.
Roasting Chestnuts over a Fire
IF YOU HAVE the perforated skillet made for the purpose, or a similar pan, you can roast chestnuts over a gas flame or a charcoal fire. Don’t put in any more at one time than will fit without stacking. If you are doing it over the stove, use medium heat; if it is over charcoal, there should be enough very hot, but not flaming, coals to provide constant heat for about 40 minutes. If the heat is too hot, the nuts will be charred on the outside, and undercooked on the inside.