When I prepare chestnuts I always remember my Grandmother Maria. I was her sweetheart, her favorite, and she justified saying this by telling everybody that I was like one of her sisters.
Every autumn, knowing how much I liked roasted chestnuts she prepared them for me with a little veil of sugar. Her chestnuts were always flawless… she was able to peel them without breaking them. And while I was studying she used to come in my room with those wonderful hot smoking chestnuts with diamonds of sugar on them.
I will never forget her, I miss her so much, and feel very guilty for having not shared enough time with her. Regretting the time that I wasted when I should have spent the time with her.
I always enjoyed her family stories; the tales that little kids are never allowed to hear. I still remember her voice , in her Neapolitan dialect, telling me of stories lost in time. When she was a young lady, there was a beautiful man, who was fond of women (my grandfather). This shocked all the conventions of the time (he was already married). To be near him, living all her life with this man.
My grandmother, by the way, was a very clever cook. Even today there are some meals that are reminiscent of ” Nonna Maria”. Unfortunately there aren’t any of her recipes, because she cooked from memory and never wrote them down. I know that she would be very happy knowing how Patrizia and I took after her in our love for cooking.
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For the meringue
250 gr (1 cup) of egg whites
75 gr (1/4 cup) of water
500 gr (2 cups)of granulated sugar
4 vanilla beans
For the chestnut mousse
500 gr (1 lb)of chestnuts
250 gr(1 cup) of chestnut jam
100 gr (4 oz.s)of pure chocolate
500 gr (2 cups)of whipping cream
1 vanilla bean
2 spoons of rum
How to prepare
For the meringues, in the mixer with the whisk, I whip the egg whites with 250 gr of sugar until foamy. Then I add the rest of the sugar and vanilla bean. I modeled the meringue on parchment paper forming a circular base with many tufts around the circumference , looking like a little crown. I put it in the oven and cooked it at 100° Celsius for about 2 hours.
Prior to boiling the chestnuts, I make an X on the flat side of the nut. I add the chestnuts to a pot of salted water with a bay leaf. I bring the water to a boil and cook for 45 minutes. After they are cooked, I peel them, removing all the outer shell and skin. Then I mash them or pulse them in a food processor. At this time I mixed the chestnuts puree with the chestnuts jam, the rum, the vanilla beans.
In a double boiler I have melted the chocolate. I add the chestnut mixture to the chocolate and last I add the whipping cream
The mousse is ready to be put in a pastry bag and piped into the meringue shells. It’s a delicious sweet and even though some purist may be appalled, I put them in an air-tight plastic box and I store them for 2 or 3 days into the refrigerator.
The meringues, without the mousse can be stored in tin boxes up to one week. This rather time consuming treat can be prepared in two different steps if you choose to prepare the meringues ahead of time and store them.
