Castagnaccio
By: Rita Banci
Published: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - 9:05am

Ingredients




8 4/5 ounces chestnut flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups water
 ounces nuts
7/10 ounce pine kernels
1 cup raisins
1 sprig of rosemary
extravergine olive oil

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 180°C. In a bowl combine chestnut flour and water; stir till you have a smooth mixture (neither too thick not too runny). To be sure not to make the mixture too liquid, add water a little at a time. You may need more or less water than 1 1/2 cup, so be careful, because this is a very important step. Stir in 2/3 cup of raisins. 2 Grease a baking pan with a little oil and pour the chestnut mixture. Sprinkle the top with rosemary, pine kernels, nuts and the remaining raisins. Drizzle some extra oil and bake for about 30 minutes. Castagnaccio is ready when the surface cracks.

About


Autumn is not arrived yet if you haven’t had a slice of castagnaccio. It’s the cake of our childhood evenings, the one our grandmothers and mothers made for our afternoon snacks. Castagnaccio is a traditional Tuscan autumn cake made with chestnut flour, water and olive oil. Just like Pan con l’Uva, it’s a humble and simple dessert – the poor man’s cake – originated in the Apennines where chestnuts (plentiful in that area) were the primary diet of farmers and peasants. It is basically made by combining chestnut flour and water till you have a smooth mixture which is then baked in the oven. Chestnut flour is naturally sweet, so it is unnecessary to add sugar, but other ingredients can be added, generally rosemary, pine kernels, raisins and nuts.