Torta di Castagne

Chestnuts are in season! Actually, you can make this chestnut cake anytime, as I used frozen chestnuts and I doubt anyone would be able to tell the difference. They are much easier to use as they come already peeled. But, regardeless of the availability of chestnuts, only in autumn can one truly enjoy this cake. It's a traditional pastry from the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, at least according to the book we got the recipe from: Le Ricette Regionali Italiane, which we mentioned in this post. Try it, it's got a very delicate flavour, very elegant, and it looks like that as well:



The ingredients are:

• 400 g of frozen, peeled chestnuts, boiled in water with a bit of salt and passed through a food mill
  
• 100 g of almonds ground in a food processor to a coarse flour
• 200 g of sugar
• 100 g of unsalted butter at room temperature
  
• 4 eggs
• 1 lemon
• 1tbs of flour

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy. Add the butter and the zest of the lemon. Blend well. Next, fold in the chestnut puree and the almond flour. Beat the eggwhites to a peak and fold into the chestnut mixture. Butter a pie dish, mine was 25 cm in diameter and about 4 cm deep, flour it, and add the mixture. Bake in the middle rack of an 180C oven for about 35 minutes.