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Ah roasted chestnuts: so evocative of Christmases of old… If you’ve ever seen our buddy Mark Shepard with his Dickensesque top-hat and black tailed coat roasting his chestnuts for various special community events and smelled & tasted them, you know what I mean. Yum! And seasonal treat only are they - these chestnuts are fresh and don’t store long like other nuts. You need to store them in the refrigerator, preferably in a ventilated plastic bag, & eat them up within a few weeks. You can peel them & eat them raw, boiled, or sautéed, but they are just so special roasted. Make sure to pierce through the skin before roasting them, or they may explode (seriously), & roast at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. To cook over an open fire, use a cast iron pan over medium heat. To boil, cut them in half before dropping into boiling water for a couple minutes, then cool & pop off skins. You can then use them in any recipe that calls for frozen shelled or canned chestnuts.
Wow! these are some of the most beautiful greens we have ever seen. This variety looks a bit different than the rapini we commonly see out of CA, also called “broccoli raab”. They look a lot like mustard greens, but don’t have the bite – instead they have the mild sweet brassica flavor of rapini. Cook them as you would chard or spinach: just barely, if you want to preserve optimum nutrition, color, & texture. Store in plastic in the fridge (if you can find a bag big enough!) with a paper towel & use up within a week.
Shallots are more than just expensive little onions that are annoying to peel. Their intriguing mix of flavors (think sweet onion/fresh garlic/braised leeks) are more concentrated yet less harsh than storage onions, so a little bit often goes a long way, either raw or cooked. They are extensively used in French as well as many Asian cuisines. Store on the counter for a couple weeks or in a dark, cool place for months.
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