Castagnaccio

Chestnut flour and water with rosemary on top, and no sugar, egg or raising agent.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 400 g chestnut flour
• 600 ml water
• 60 ml olive oil
• 50 g pine nuts
• 50 g raisins, soaked
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

1. SIEVE THE CHESTNUT FLOUR TWICE. It is fine and packs into hard lumps in the bag, and any lump that survives into the tin stays a lump.
2. Whisk in the water a little at a time to a smooth batter the consistency of single cream, with the salt and half the oil.
3. NO SUGAR, NO EGGS AND NOTHING TO MAKE IT RISE. Chestnut flour is sweet on its own and this is meant to be a thin flat cake, 1.5 cm at most — it is not a sponge and adding any of those three makes it something else.
4. Oil a wide shallow tin and pour the batter in thinly.
5. Scatter the pine nuts, drained raisins and rosemary needles over the surface, and thread the rest of the oil across.
6. ROSEMARY ON A PUDDING IS CORRECT. It is resinous against the sweetness of the chestnut and the dish is built around that contrast.
7. Bake at 190C for 35 minutes until the top has cracked all over. The cracks are the sign it is done. Eat it warm or cold, cut in squares.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes