Chestnut vegetable dish

Kind of stew with an autumn twist

I’m a big fan of 1 pot dishes and stews, as i think it gives a cosy feeling and it’s also easy to wipe in everything in 1 pot hehe. Chestnuts you can find easily at the moment in the forest. I think 2 more weeks and then the season is over again. That reminds me, to collect some after i wrote this post hehe.

I actually got this basic recipe from my 2 Greedy italians eat Italy book. Gennaro Contaldo is one of my favorite Italian cooks. I just added a little twist with a leftover in the fridge and some potatoes :)

INGREDIENTS  serves 4 (not if you are a big eater): 

300 gr Fresh “catched” whole chestnuts ;-)

4 tablespoons extra virgin Olive oil

1 small onion chopped

800 gr Green cabbage chopped into thin stripes

1 large apple peeled and roughly chopped

3 large potatoes in cubes

Salt and fresh ground pepper

350 ml Vegetable stock

80 gr Pecorino Siciliano

RECIPE : 

1. Wash your chestnuts and check if they are still good by removing the ones that float on the surface in a pot of water. When they come up to the surface, then there is probably a worm inside. remove those chestnuts and keep the rest.

With a sharp knife, make an incision in each of the chestnuts. bring a saucepan with slightly salted water to the boil and add the chestnuts. Cook for about 20 minutes. Drain and let cool a bit. Then peel them and set aside.

2. In a large pot, heat the olive oil and let the onion sweat. Let glaze......

Add the cabbage stripes, Potatoes, apple, salt, pepper and the stock. Stir and reduce the heat to medium. Cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes. Stir once in a while and then add the chestnuts and let cook another 5 minutes. Keep stirring now and then, by the end of the cooking time the water will be mostly gone, a little bit of juice left behind is good. Cause when you add the cheese, it will pick up any left water inside the pot. 

3. Remove from the heat and add the Pecorino Siciliano cheese in small pieces. Keep stirring now and then, to make sure the cheese covers all the food. it will give a more creamy taste and i think it gives a nice strong flavour to the simple ingredients inside.

Pecorino Siciliano cheese : 

This was my leftover in the fridge >> Pecorino Siciliano (called Picurinu in Sicilian) is made from whole sheep's milk in Sicily, Italy. It is an uncooked hard cheese, cylindrical in shape, and is used as a table cheese or for grating.

Pecorino Siciliano has somewhat of a dark rind with a white or yellow-white interior. Cheeses made in the spring or summer are yellower in color than those produced in late fall or winter. The cheese is usually aged about 3 to 4 months, but sometimes as much as 18 months or more. It has a sharp taste and a pungent aroma. It is less salty than its more famous cousin Pecorino Romano.

In pictures