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PROGRAMME INFO |
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From amaranth to zabaglione, Sheila Dillon and Derek Cooper investigate every aspect of the food we eat. |
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LISTEN AGAIN |
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PRESENTERS |
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- Derek's biography
- Derek's interview
- What do you know about Derek? |
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"Cooper is a man with tremendous gusto and passion for the pleasures of life and food, but he is also a man who has a blazing fury with those who are responsible for allowing our food supply to have become so contaminated and with those countless others who accept this state with apathy and disregard."
Journalist Colin Spencer |
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| PROGRAMME DETAILS | | | |
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CHESTNUTS
Sheila Dillon feasts on that most Christmassy of nuts, the chestnut.
Once used in southern Europe as a peasant staple replacing potatoes in the winter months, the Italians Spanish and French also turn chestnuts into flour and use them in every course of the meal ….from chestnut soup to chestnut flour doughnuts. Large cultivated chestnuts are also highly prized, especially when coated with syrup and turned into marron glaces - an expensive sweet and a recommended accompaniment to champagne!
We'll be hearing from the French village synonymous with marron glaces, Collobrieres, how these delicacies are made. We'll also be hearing from Corsica - an island whose people were dependent on chestnuts for centuries as both food and currency - they would barter their chestnut flour for goods they did not produce. And we'll be hearing the history of the chestnut in England where for hundreds of years, street vendors selling hot chestnuts have been a familiar sight.
Sheila's guest in the studio is chef Valentina Harris who will be making chestnut and porcini soup and chestnut fritters.
GUESTS AND INTERVIEWEES
Paul Wise of Magnin's fruit and vegetable wholesalers.
D65 New Covent Garden Market SW8 5EE
Tel: 020 7720 8222
Historian Hazel Forsyth from the Museum of London
Museum of London
London Wall
London EC2Y 5HN
Tel: 020 7600 3699
Stephanie Clarke from the Felbridge and District History Group
Anne Kilborn, Collobrieres resident.
Mme Cayolle, Director of the Confiserie Azureenne, who produce marrons glaces.
Rosalind Fiamma, Corsican resident
Francois and Marcy Forascieppi, who run La Chataigneraie Restaurant in Evisa, Corsica.
Antoine Versini, chestnut grower with his own drying/smoking house.
RECIPES
MINESTRA DI CASTAGNE E PORCINI /CHESTNUT AND PORCINI MUSHROOM SOUP
A lovely brown, creamy soup with the two autumnal flavours of dried porcini mushrooms and chestnuts. Soothing and comforting, yet very tasty and quite luscious in both texture and flavour, this is magnificent soup.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
1 shallot, peeled and chopped very finely
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
a large handful of dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in warm water to cover or equivalent fresh wild mushrooms
350 g peeled cooked chestnuts
3/4 litre flavourful vegetable or chicken stock
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
METHOD
Fry the shallots and butter together very gently until soft and golden brown. Drain the mushrooms and reserve and strain the liquid carefully through a double sheet of kitchen paper. Chop the mushrooms coarsely and add to the shallots. Stir together for a few minutes, then add the liquid from the mushrooms and the chestnuts. Mix together very thoroughly, add the stock and season to taste. Simmer very gently, stirring occasionally. When the soup is thickened, stir through the parsley and serve.
FRITTELLE DI CASTAGNE
CHESTNUT FRITTERS
Makes enough for 6 people
INGREDIENTS:
300 g. chestnut flour
about 1/2 litre cold water
pinch salt
2 tablespoons sugar
handful of raisins
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
small handful pine kernels
extra virgin olive oil
METHOD
Mix the chestnut flour and water together, adding the water to the flour gradually so as to create a smooth, lump free mixture that is the texture of thick custard. Stir in the salt, sugar, raisins, rosemary and pine kernels. Leave to stand for about a half an hour. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan, and spoon the mixture into the pan in small amounts so as to cook 3 or 4 fritters at one time. (They will be the size and thickness of a Scotch pancake or pikelet.) Flip them over as soon as the underside is dried out and lightly browned, then cook on the other side for a little longer and eat them hot, two at a time, sandwiched around a spoonful of fresh ricotta.
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