How to Roast Chestnuts

posted in Appetizers and Snacks, Pantry by Kathy Maister

On a recent visit to New York City, the weather was cold and crisp. On such days, my husband (David) and I always share a small brown bag full of freshly roasted chestnuts from one of the street vendors who seem to be on every other NYC street corner. After letting the chestnuts cool down for a few minutes, David always peels these delightful treasures so I don’t have to take my mittens off! They are so rich, sweet and tender!

When I saw fresh chestnuts at the grocery store, I thought it would be great to roast some at home for startcooking. For comparison sake, I bought a jar of pre-packaged chestnuts as well.

Before I begin, I would like to point out that Water Chestnuts are from an aquatic plant and are a totally different food than the chestnuts (from a tree) that I am about to roast.

To Roast Chestnuts:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Wipe the chestnuts off with a damp towel and set them on a cutting board, flat side down.

With a small, sharp knife cut an X in each chestnut. (There are special chestnut-X-cutting knives that you can buy – see comments below. I would only recommend buying one of these knives if you roast a TON of chestnuts.) The X allows the steam to escape while they are cooking. (Do not omit this step, otherwise the chestnuts could explode in the oven!) This will also make peeling a lot easier.

For safety sake, you may feel more comfortable cushioning the chestnut on a (clean) dish towel to cut the X.

Put the chestnuts in a baking pan with the X facing up.

It will take 20-30 minutes to roast the chestnuts. When cooked, the shells will burst open, and the chestnut will be golden brown. The tricky part is actually knowing when they are done. If you over-cook OR under-cook them, they will get hard and the inner skin will be very difficult to remove.

Now comes the hard part: peeling them! You need to peel them while they are still warm. Let them cool just enough so that you can touch them, then start peeling. Be very careful not to burn your fingers!

Be sure to buy extra, because once they are open you may well discover that some have actually turned bad and are not edible.

This task is not as easy as David makes it look. My thumb is killing me!

So now comes the test: comparing the fresh chestnuts to the ones from the jar. There are four things to consider:

Appearance
Taste and Texture
Price
Convenience

Freshly Roasted (on the left) Vs. From a Jar

1. Appearance
First let me say that the chestnuts I bought from Whole Foods did not end up looking at all like the magnificent ones from the street vendor. (Of course the 7 or 8 chestnuts from the street vendor that actually end up in your brown bag don’t look like the ones they have on display either!)

The ones from the jar have a preserved look about them.

2. Taste and Texture
They both tasted delicious but the ones from the jar actually had a moister texture.

3. Price
The 17 fresh chestnuts from Whole foods cost $4.67

I ended up with 12 usable ones. (Yes there are only 11 in the above photo because I ate one!) Two I could not get peeled, two disintegrated when I tried to peel them and one was rotten.

The 7.4 ounce jar cost $8.99. 100% were usable.

4. Convenience
When I was a kid, whenever my mom would bake, we would always have to shell the walnuts. (Way back then!) It was significantly cheaper to buy unshelled walnuts. It is a very labor intensive activity. Today, having to shell your own nuts sounds like it is on par with having to go milk the cow to get fresh milk! Peeling your own chestnuts is not an easy task!

Conclusion:

All in all, my first preference is to buy them off the street vendor in NYC. ONLY as a special treat, is it worth the effort to roast the chestnuts yourself. The look, the taste and the aroma is wonderful.

BUT, for use in a recipe, I would probably skip roasting them myself and just buy the jar!

Cheers!

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Guacamole

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posted in Appetizers and Snacks, Vegetarian by Kathy Maister

Difficulty:

Guacamole with corn chips is a great addition to any party menu!

The ingredients needed to make guacamole are:

2 avocados, peeled and pitted
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
3 teaspoons of freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
1 tablespoon of j alapeño slices, chopped
1/2 teaspoon of hot pepper sauce
salt
pepper

When using avocados, planning ahead is essential. If you try to make guacamole with a hard, under-ripe avocado, both the texture and the taste will be all wrong. When buying avocados, buy the ones that yield to gentle pressure but are not soft or mushy. Fortunately, you can speed up the ripening process by placing hard avocados in a brown paper bag for a couple of days. (That’s why you need to plan ahead!)

Check out my previous posts on how to crush garlic, squeeze juice from a lemon or lime and how to clean and cut jalapeno peppers, because they are what we are gong to tackle first.

Be sure to use fresh limes (or lemons) and fresh garlic and fresh jalapenos for this recipe.

Let’s start cooking!

Crush 2 cloves of garlic.

Squeeze 1/2 of a fresh lime; we will need 2 teaspoons of the juice.

Seed 1 jalapeño pepper and dice it into about 1/8 inch bits. (I always wear disposable gloves when cutting hot chili peppers!)

Cut one tomato in half with the stem end to the right of the knife blade. It is not necessary to peel the tomato.

Squeeze out all the seeds.

Chop the tomato into about ¼ inch bits.

Cut two avocados lengthwise (rather than making the cut around the width.)

Separate the two pieces.

Leave the avocado on the cutting board and give the pit a thwack with a big sharp knife.

Give the knife a twist and carefully remove the pit.

Pinch the pit off the knife with your thumb and forefinger and throw it away.

With a spoon, scoop out the avocado.

It’s OK to put the skin down the garbage disposer, but I just throw the pit in the trash. (It’s sort of like throwing a golf ball in the disposer. You just wouldn’t do it!)

For this chunky guacamole, I like to use a fork to mash it. You could also use a potato masher if you like.

Now add the other prepared ingredients to the avocado. Don’t forget the hot pepper sauce!

With a spoon gently blend everything together.

Give it a taste and see if you need to add some salt and pepper.

It’s important to note that, once exposed to air, an avocado discolors very quickly. Adding lime or lemon juice helps to prevent discoloration. It is widely believed that an avocado pit left in guacamole will help to maintain the lush green color. Wrong! Stick with the lemon or lime juice.

By the way, avocados are almost always eaten raw. They actually turn bitter when they are cooked. Who knew?

Enjoy!

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How to Cut and Peel an Avocado: A Basic Guide

posted in Fruits by Kathy Maister

Avocados are a fruit, (yes a fruit) that contains (unsaturated) fat. That’s what gives them that wonderfully rich, buttery taste. There are a lot of varieties of avocado but the two that are most readily available here in Boston are the Hass and the Fuerte.

The Fuerte avocado has a smooth thin green skin while the Hass is darker, almost black, with a pebbly textured skin. Many people prefer to use the darker (Hass) ones because they have a richer more pronounced flavor. (Unfortunately, they also have a few more calories than the Fuerte avocado.)

When using avocados, planning ahead is essential. For example, if you try to make guacamole with a hard, under-ripe avocado, neither the texture nor the taste will be very pleasant.

Buy avocados that yield to gentle pressure but are not soft or mushy. Unfortunately, this kind of avocado is difficult to find in many grocery stores since avocados, like bananas, continue to ripen even when they have been taken off the tree. Your supermarket will often buy fresh-picked avocados, so you usually don’t have any choice but to buy a really hard avocado.

Fortunately, you can hasten the ripening process by placing the hard avocados in a brown paper bag for 2-4 days. As with bananas, you can speed up the ripening process by sticking an apple (preferably a green Granny Smith apple) in the bag as well. (It’s the ethylene from the apple that does the trick!)

How to Cut and Peel an Avocado

Begin by cutting two avocados lengthwise rather than making the cut around the width.

(It will be virtually impossible to remove the pit if you slice it in half around the fat part.)

Separate the two pieces. Leave the avocado on the cutting board and (CAREFULLY!) give the pit a thwack with a big sharp knife.

Twist the knife and the pit should pop out.

If you now put the back of the knife against your palm, you should be able to pinch the pit off of the knife with your thumb and fore finger, with no danger of getting cut. (I’m right handed so I would continue to hold the knife in my right hand and put the back of the knife in my left palm to remove the pit from the knife.)

With a spoon…

…scoop out the avocado.

It’s OK to put the skin down the garbage disposer, but I just throw the pit (actually called the stone) in the trash. The stone is about as hard as a golf ball!

It’s important to note that, once exposed to air, avocado discolors very quickly. Adding lime or lemon juice helps to prevent discoloration. It is widely believed that an avocado pit left in guacamole will help to maintain the lush green color. Wrong. Stick with the lemon or lime juice.

Avocados are almost always eaten raw. If your recipe calls for adding the avocado to something hot, do it at the very last minute, just before serving. They actually turn bitter when they are cooked…Who knew?

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