Beef and Chestnut Stew
Can you believe that before today I had never tasted a chestnut before? I remember playing conkers as a child, but I can’t have been very good cause I didn’t even seem to remember what they look after the tough brown outer layer is removed.
I got a bag of Chestnuts from Tesco before I had really decided what to do with them. Firstly I just wanted to try them, just to see what all the fuss was about, then I wanted to try some amazingly autumnal recipes.
Asking around on twitter I was directed by @goodshoeday and @aforkful both very helpful and useful to know foodies, to @essexgourmet‘s latest post on Chestnuts. It is a great post on how to successfully peel chestnuts with a handful of recipes which contain Chestnuts.
I used the roasting method to peel my chestnuts for the Beef and Chestnut Stew recipe, because even though this method tends to dry them out I would be cooking mine in liquid for around an hour and a half. I used the following recipe from the BBC for Beef and Chestnut Red Wine Stew.
I served mine with Brussels Sprouts and New Potatoes. I have to say I found it really quite sweet, and the texture of the chestnuts a little strange. If you already know you like Chestnuts in savoury things then by all means try it. For me however I like my savoury dished savoury.
I didn’t use up all my chestnuts in this dish so look forward to hopefully some more chestnut inspired recipes in the next couple of days!
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November 4th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
“…..I like my savoury dished savoury”, haha, this is soooooooo my husband. he just cant take any sweet flavour in his savory dish!
my mom-in-law makes really good chicken stew with chestnut, and i enjoy it a lot!
November 5th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
The chestnuts are a great addition to beef stew!
November 8th, 2009 at 7:00 am
This dish looks so delicious. I love chestnuts. I have not tried it in beef stew yet. My mom used to add to bamboo leaves wrapped dumplings when we were young and they tasted awesome. The filling is a beautiful combination of chestnuts, belly pork slices, dried shrimps and Chinese dried mushrooms. We loved them very much.
November 9th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Sounds pretty good. I’ve only cooked with chestnuts once – last year for Christmas. I made chestnuts with brussel sprouts and bacon. The chestnuts, despite my scoring an X on the bottom of the hull, were still a pain to remove and ended up being in little pieces. Not sure what I did wrong there!
November 9th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Thanks all for your really great comments!
Alta – I found when I was roasting chestnuts that if I left them in the oven for a bit longer it was much easier to remove the skin.
Mary – I’ve never made dumplings before, but the chestnut / pork / mushrooms combo sounds amazing!
lululu – I can imagine that chestnuts would be a great addition to any type of stew – if you like that sort of thing