Castagnaccio is a Tuscan rustic-style cake made from chestnut flour. Originally made by poor farmers, it’s typically flavoured with pine nuts, walnuts, raisins and rosemary. For this more gourmet version, I’ve added chestnut purée, which makes the cake smoother and sweeter.
SERVES 8–10
- 50g raisins
- 250g chestnut flour
- 70g raw cane sugar
- 300ml still mineral water
- 50g pine nuts
- 50g chestnut purée
- 1 pinch salt
- olive oil
- 2 sprigs rosemary
Soak the raisins in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
Sift the chestnut flour into a bowl. Mix in the sugar and then gradually add the mineral water while stirring constantly to form a thick and smooth dough. Add three-quarters of the pine nuts, three-quarters of the drained raisins, the chestnut purée and the salt.
Grease a 22cm x 19cm gratin dish with oil. Pour in the mixture.
Sprinkle with the remaining pine nuts and raisins and the rosemary. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 25 minutes.
Edited extract from Veganissimo: Italian Vegan Cuisine by Angélique Roussel, published by Grub Street.
DIY Handmade Crackers