I’ve got creative ideas for cooking with chestnuts in Autumn:

1.  Soup

Chestnuts combine beautifully with mushrooms in a velvety, thyme infused soup from Martha Stewart’s New Classics. Chestnuts are actually a wild food, like foraged mushrooms, which inspires this pairing. The Chestnut-Mushroom Soup  is sure to warm you through and leave you satisfied, ready for a nice, cozy nap. Anne Willan shares a recipe for Cream of Chestnut Soup in her book, The Country Cooking of France. Roasted chestnuts are left whole, cooked in veal broth and milk, for a rich and warming soup. Earthy lentils and sweet chestnuts pair beautifully in Lidia Bastianich’s Abruzzese Chestnut & Lentil Soup in Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy. It’s the perfect Italian example of what grows together goes together.

2.  Chocolate Cake Flavored with Chestnut Purée

Only the domestic goddess herself would combine both chestnut purée and the French marrons glacés (candied chestnuts) in a rich and festive chocolate cake. Find the recipe in her guide to cooking for the holidays, Feast. A simple flourless cake batter flavored with bittersweet chocolate, chestnut purée, and a splash of rum is baked in a braided ring mold pan. The cake is garnished with piped whipped cream and studded with chestnut candies. It’s worthy of a centerpiece for your family gathering.

3.  Red Cabbage with Apples & Chestnuts

It doesn’t get any more fall than cabbage, apples, and chestnuts. The Canal House ladies share this recipe in Volume No. 5, citing their inspiration from Alsace. A head of red cabbage is cooked in butter with onions and bay leaf, then simmered in Riesling with apples and chestnuts (the pre-cooked and peeled variety). Serve it on a platter next to your Thanksgiving turkey or ham.

4.  Melissa’s Chestnut Jam

The River Cottage Preserves Handbook by Pam Corbin includes a recipe for Melissa’s Chestnut Jam that calls for fresh sweet chestnuts, sugar, vanilla, honey, and brandy. The jam is actually a thick purée which can be stored in sterilized jars for 6 months. Pam likes to spoon chestnut jam over meringue nests, or stir it into chocolate mousse, use it as a filling in chocolate cakes, dollop it atop vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce, or just spread it over toast.

5.  Gratin

Chestnuts add meaty texture and sweet, nutty flavor to a gratin  of Jerusalem artichokes, yukon gold potatoes, and toasted bread cubes in Martha Stewart’s New Classics. Her recipe for Jersusalem Artichoke and Chestnut Gratin is enriched with crème fraîche and Gruyère cheese. After an hour in a hot oven the gratin is tender and bubbly with a golden brown crust. It would be a great dish to prep out ahead of time and bake off Thanksgiving day.

6.  Balsamic Glazed Chestnuts

In French Food at Home, Laura Calder suggests that peeled and cooked vacuum-packed chestnuts provide “quick gratification for when a roasted bird begs for the fudgy, matte density of the chestnut tree’s fine fruit.” Simply sauté the chestnuts in butter and then simmer in balsamic vinegar for a couple of minutes until a glaze forms.

 7.  Roasted Chestnut Cookies

I knew I could count on Deb of Smitten Kitchen for a chestnut cookie recipe. Searching her archives, I was delighted to find one plus Deb’s admission that she is obsessed with chestnuts. These roasted chestnut cookies from Smitten Kitchen are perfect for the holidays. Deb describes them as a “buttery, nutty, delicate puff” similar to Mexican Wedding Cakes. The little butter balls are rolled in powdered sugar, making them even more festive for this time of year.

8.  Chestnuts & Game

Darina Allen shares a hearty, autumnal stew with chestnuts and venison in her book Forgotten Skills of Cooking. Chestnuts and game are a classic pairing, the sweet flavor and meaty texture pairs nicely with meats like venison or deer. Cubed venison shoulder is left in a red wine/herb marinade overnight, then browned in bacon fat and braised with vegetables for a couple of hours, until tender. Once the meat is tender, toss in sautéed mushrooms and pre-cooked chestnuts. It’s the perfect meal for a chilly fall night.

9.  Burgundian Roast Turkey with Chestnuts and Wild Mushrooms

In Anne Willan’s The Country Cooking of France, you’ll find this version of roast turkey which calls for a white wine marinade flavored with cloves and nutmeg. The turkey is roasted on it’s own while peeled chestnuts are simmered in milk until almost tender, then finished by going into the turkey pan with the drippings and roasting until glazed and very soft. Serve the bird with the chestnuts, sautéed mushrooms and plenty of pan gravy.

 10.  Cake with Chestnut Flour

Leafing through the encyclopedic Silver Spoon, the self-professed “bible of authentic Italian cooking,” I found a recipe for Chestnut Cake called Castagnaccio. Chestnut flour is combined with milk, sugar, and olive oil and spooned into a cake pan. The beauty of this cake is the presentation. Pine nuts and rosemary sprigs are sprinkled atop the cake before it’s baked. The result is a moist, dark brown cake with the woodsy aroma of fresh rosemary. It’s a lovely cake for autumn.

What is your favorite way to cook with chestnuts? Let me know in the comments section. Click Here.