Lo scrittore descrive la tradizione di mangiare le caldarroste a Natale. Sebbene la famosa canzone di Natale inizi con le castagne che arrostiscono su un fuoco aperto, la scrittrice racconta che a casa sua le castagne vengono arrostite sopra la stufa in una pentola. Racconta come da ragazza non ha mai voluto mangiare le castagne. Pensava che non fossero buone. Ora, da adulto, è un cibo tradizionale che attende ogni anno. Il suo consiglio per evitare le castagne bruciate è di agitare continuamente la padella sopra il fornello.
Every Christmas holiday, chestnuts would be served after our Christmas Day meal with fruit, followed by a multitude of desserts. Roasted on the stovetop in a roaster or later, in the oven, I often wondered why we didn’t have a fireplace in our turn-of-the-century (1900) home so that we could roast them in the fireplace like the song goes. The chestnuts were mainly for the adults in the family who were crazy about them and couldn’t wait to eat them after dinner. When I was older, I would taste the chestnuts, but they were either too hot, too hard to shell, or moldy, so I quickly lost interest; there were too many other goodies much easier to eat after dinner.
Our family keeps the tradition of roasting chestnuts during the holidays. Now, my mother and my sisters and I are the adults who eat the chestnuts while the younger family members look on and wonder what we are eating, quickly moving on to other sweeter and tastier desserts!
I recently discovered the chestnut roaster that our mother bought for her mother-in-law in the 1950s. Nonna Lucarino would stand at the stove and roast the chestnuts over our gas oven burner: Place the chestnuts in the roaster over a medium flame. Shake continuously. Roast for about 15 minutes. The key, and something we found out this last holiday, is that it must be shaken constantly, or the chestnuts will burn on the bottom. Be vigilant! We lost a few but the ones not burnt were the best!
Castagne Arrostite (Roasted Chestnuts)
This is another way to prepare chestnuts so that they retain as much moisture as possible. Preheat oven to 425°. Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. With a sharp knife make a lengthwise slit down the entire curved surface. In my family, we made another slit to make a cross. Place the chestnuts in cold water. Heat until water boils then remove with a slotted spoon and place on a shallow baking pan cut side up. Roast in oven for 15-20 minutes. Wrap them in a clean tea towel for 10-15 minutes. Chestnuts are much easier to peel if warm. Skin any leftovers and refrigerate for a couple days or freeze for later.
