Its been a "Nutty" Kind of Day
Put simply I have been doing things with nuts. Slightly different from the planned list of earlier on but that's because I have never had a go at marrons glace before. Bit more time consuming than I thought, its taken me ages to peel 1 kg of blinkin chestnuts. They are now busy soaking in sugar syrup for the first day of a ten day procedure.
I started with the chestnuts for the marrons glace using a serrated knife to cut a cross in the point of each chestnut using a serrated knife going across the point one way and then the other (as per Pam Corbin on River Cottage) and then popping them in boiling water to release the skins ready for shelling - the messy part. I had to reboil the water a couple of times and dealt with the chestnuts on a one by one basis holding the hot nuts in a towel as I do not have asbestos fingers in order to peel them. The fiddly part comes when the inner skin will not shift and I have ended up teasing the skin away with the point of a knife.
The nuts will not come out perfect each time - but hey I can live with that but I am still preparing the broken lumps as well. It would seem that the chestnuts which remind me or wrinkled brains seem to have a natural fault line some actually split in half one way and some the opposite so you can end up with halves, wedges and lumps. Several have come out perfect but being as I have gone to all this time and trouble I will separate the good whole ones off from the not so perfect. It will all be edible at the end of the day and it will just be down to presentation.
if you were selling them on a commercial basis things would be different but I am just aiming to have a few different things available i.e. as a sweetmeat or as an accompaniment for pancakes, ice creams, waffles sprinkled over cheesecake.
One of the simplest puds is created from home made vanilla ice cream, butterscotch sauce and some chopped nuts or some nuts in honey. When you are busy you always need something quick that is not necessarily time heavy but which produces a result.
I started with the chestnuts for the marrons glace using a serrated knife to cut a cross in the point of each chestnut using a serrated knife going across the point one way and then the other (as per Pam Corbin on River Cottage) and then popping them in boiling water to release the skins ready for shelling - the messy part. I had to reboil the water a couple of times and dealt with the chestnuts on a one by one basis holding the hot nuts in a towel as I do not have asbestos fingers in order to peel them. The fiddly part comes when the inner skin will not shift and I have ended up teasing the skin away with the point of a knife.
The nuts will not come out perfect each time - but hey I can live with that but I am still preparing the broken lumps as well. It would seem that the chestnuts which remind me or wrinkled brains seem to have a natural fault line some actually split in half one way and some the opposite so you can end up with halves, wedges and lumps. Several have come out perfect but being as I have gone to all this time and trouble I will separate the good whole ones off from the not so perfect. It will all be edible at the end of the day and it will just be down to presentation.
if you were selling them on a commercial basis things would be different but I am just aiming to have a few different things available i.e. as a sweetmeat or as an accompaniment for pancakes, ice creams, waffles sprinkled over cheesecake.
One of the simplest puds is created from home made vanilla ice cream, butterscotch sauce and some chopped nuts or some nuts in honey. When you are busy you always need something quick that is not necessarily time heavy but which produces a result.
I have also made hazlenuts in honey, almonds in honey and pecans in honey and I have some chocolate, butterscotch sauces to make at some point too. The strawberry sauce is already made.
So despite the detour I have managed to get some things started its just not what I had hoped to do. That will teach me to have a go at something new!
Catch you soon
Pattypan
x
So despite the detour I have managed to get some things started its just not what I had hoped to do. That will teach me to have a go at something new!
Catch you soon
Pattypan
x
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