Castagnaccio

Castagnaccio is a cake made ​​with chestnut flour, a typically autumnal dish easy to prepare and very good to eat. It originated as a poor dish for the rural populations who had chestnuts as their main staple food. Today, instead, this cake is the protagonist of numerous celebrations and festivals.

Here is a recipe for 8 people.
The ingredients you need are:
-water: 750 ml
-chestnut flour: 500 gr
-walnuts: 100 gr
-pine nuts: 100 gr
-rosemary: a handful
-raisins: 80 gr
-salt: a big pinch
-extravirgin olive oil: 6 tablespoons

PREPARATION



To prepare the Castagnaccio, the first thing to do is preheat the oven at 200°, then take the raisins and put them to soak in warm water (1) ; proceed sifting the chestnut flour into a large bowl to remove possible lumps (2) and after having added a generous pinch of salt, pour gradually water in the flour (3) mixing everything with a whip until you obtain a well blended and soft batter (4).



Then squeeze and dry the raisins, and add them to the mix together with pine nuts and walnuts coarsely chopped (5) (set aside a small amount of these three ingredients that you will sprinkle on the surface of the castagnaccio before baking). Take a shallow baking tin with a diameter of 40 cm and grease it with some olive oil using a brush. Later pour the mix in the baking tin, sprinkle the castagnaccio with the ingredients set aside and with the rosemary (6), pour two more tablespoons of oil on the surface and finally bake it for 30 minutes at 200 ° until it will form a crust on the surface.

This dish is classified as a cake but it is not very sweet, it has a particular flavor that I like very much, for this reason I chose this dish. I have never prepared it, but I'd like to do it one day.

Ylenia Foschetti