Recipe: Chestnut Cake

Chestnut Cake
Chef: Maggie Beer

You need:
1/2 cup of currants
Verjuice
1/2 cup of pine nuts
250g chestnut flour
375ml cold water
3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
1 sprig of rosemary
Grated zest of 1 orange
Strega (optional)
Extra orange zest (optional)

This flat dense cake is served in Italy with coffee. As much as I love chestnuts, they can be heavy and dense, even as flour. Here verjuice gives the palate a lift while the heavy chestnut flour remains intact. Given that it is made from grapes, verjuice is the perfect medium for reconstituting currant, sultanas or raisins while adding another depth of flavour at the same time.

Reconstitute the currants for about 30 minutes in enough verjuice to cover them. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C. Dry roast the in nuts for about ten minutes until golden brown (watch them carefully as they burn easily). Reduce the oven temperature to 190 C.

Sift the chestnut flour into a bowl, and then stir in the cold water gradually to make a thick paste (you not need it all). Make sure there are no lumps, and then add the olive oil and salt.

Chop the rosemary and zest the orange, then add both to the batter with the drained currants and pine nuts and stir vigorously until amalgamated.

Grease a shallow 20cm cake tin and pour in the batter to a depth of 2.5 com. Then bake for a bout 30 minutes.

Serve the cake warm, either moistened with Strega poured over it as soon as it comes out of the oven or with mascarpone flavoured with a little orange zest.
4 as a main.