IL PANFORTE CASTAGNACCIO Castagnaccio is a typical autumn cake made with chestnut our. This is a poor dish of peasant origin being the chestnut widespread in the countryside, DI SIENA inexpensive and nutritious. The rst news of this cake date back to 1500 and it seems to have been conceived by a certain Pilade from Lucca; from the 1800s it was enriched with raisins and pine nuts and spread to the rest of Italy. It is characteristic of the Apennine areas of Tuscany, Liguria, Emilia and Piedmont. According to the Tuscan recipe it should be made with chestnut our from Mount Amiata which is on the market beginning with the end of November. This dish also has a curious side: it was said that the rosemary leaets used in the recipes were a lter of love: the young man who ate dessert offered to him by a woman would fall in love with her and marry her.
Ingredients: 300 grams of chestnut our 4 tablespoons sugar 1 glass of water 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil raisins, pine nuts, rosemary according to taste
Procedure: To make Castagnaccio sift 300 g of chestnut our and mix it with 4 tablespoons of sugar, 1 glass of water and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add a handful of raisins softened in water, pine nuts and walnuts and a few rosemary leaves to the mixture. Pour everything into a cake pan and decorate the surface with other pine nuts, nuts and raisins and rosemary. Bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes. The Castagnaccio must be served lukewarm and cut into squares. It is also very good in combination with cold cuts and cheeses. Try it with fresh ricotta.