We Are Never Full » chestnuts

My Type of Yule Log: Pork Roulade with Sausage, Pistachios and Chestnuts (and Cider Gravy)

Amy — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:48:42 +0000

Before we head off to England (and a five day side-trip to Northern France) to visit the across-the-pond family, we wanted to leave you with a different option for your Christmas Day meal. Some families love making hard-core meals for Christmas Day dinner – meals that take hours to cook and include many courses or many side dishes. If that is your type of meal, then you may want to save this recipe for another time (perhaps when you’re hung over on New Year’s Day?). This dish is so flavorful and so freaking easy to make. You know what makes it even better? It’s a cost-effective. So chat with your butcher, make it easier and just ask him/her to butterfly that pork for you, grab a huge mug of egg nog or mulled wine, throw on some Johnny Mathis and spend some time doing what real Americans will be doing – hanging out with Ralphie.

MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HANUKKAH/HAPPY KWANZAA EVERYONE! Thank you for supporting us, commenting on posts and actually reading our words. It means more than you know! Have a delicious 2010!

PORK ROAST ROULADE WITH SAUSAGE, PISTACHIO AND CHESTNUTS WITH CIDER GRAVY (serves 4 to 6 – adapted from When French Women Cook by Madeline Kamman)

2 1/2 to 3 lb. boneless pork roast, butterflied (center cut is best, but we used a tenderloin which worked just fine – the cooking time we list in this recipe is based on a tenderloin which will cook faster than other cuts – internal temp will always be the same, though, about 150-155F. )
1/2 lb. of sweet Italian sausage (loose, not in casings – if you buy it with casings on, just slice it and squeeze out the sausage)
1 egg
1/4 to 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (you may use more or less to get the right consistency)
1/2 cup of shelled pistachios (about 20-25)
1/2 cup shelled and boiled chestnuts - directions below (you may use jarred/canned chestnuts as well)
1 teaspoon french four spice (aka Quatre èpices)
optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground juniper berries
salt and pepper
1 cup hard cider (preferably French but English or Canadian could do)
3 or 4 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
olive oil
need: kitchen twine and meat thermometer

What to do:

How to shell the chestnuts: With a knife, make and “x” on one end of each chestnut. Bring water to a boil and boil chestnuts for 15 to 20 minutes. The chestnuts will be soft. Peel the chestnut shell off, starting where you placed that “x”. You may also choose to roast your chestnuts by cutting the “x” again at the top and then roast for 15 to 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven, shaking the pan every five minutes.
Time to make the pork! Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
In a bowl, combine the sausage meat, egg, and 1/4 cup of the breadcrumbs. Mix well and add more breadcrumb if mixture is too wet.
Sprinkle the butterflied pork with salt and pepper. Spread the sausage mixture over the whole butterflied pork, leaving a 1/4 inch space on each side. Sprinkle the pistachios and chestnuts all over the sausage – push a bit into the sausage mixture.
Roll the pork up like a cigarette/joint and get your twine ready to be used.
Now, tie up your roast.
Sprinkle pork with the four spice (it’s strong in flavor, so a little goes a long way), rub with olive oil, place in the roasting pan and into your oven.
Roast the pork, at first, for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. Set a timer to remember to turn the oven down after 10 minutes to 250 degrees.
Depending on the size/shape of your pork loin, it will cook for anywhere between 50 and 80 minutes (remember – this is cooking time for a pork tenderloin) or until it reaches an internal temperature of about 150.
Take out of the oven when it has reached temperature, allow to rest under some tented foil for about 15 to 20 minutes.
While pork is resting, make the cider gravy. With the pork roasting pan on your stove top, deglaze the pan with the cider and allow to cook down for a few minutes, picking up all the goodness from the bottom of the pan. Pour this into a cup or small bowl and allow to sit for a few minutes. Using a baster (or, more tediously, a spoon), remove the fat from the lean part of the gravy. Add gravy back to pan, reheat on low and taste to add some salt and pepper. Add the sour cream and blend with a whisk. When sauce comes up to perfect temperature, it’s ready to be served.
Slice pork with a sharp knife – about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. Pour gravy over pork and enjoy!

Chestnut Custard Tart, Full of Christmas Cheer – Recipe 4

Jonathan — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:51:36 +0000

During the cook-a-thon that was the weekend before Christmas, in which my wife and I got our first real glimpse of just how hard professional chefs have to work, I turned out something of a rarity for me, and thus far, unique to this blog – a dessert. Touring the food blogosphere (hmm, starting to dislike that word almost as much as the word “foodie”), we notice that there are a lot of bakers out there with all kinds of recipes for coconut cake, brownies, muffins, crumbles, brittles and pies, in sharp contrast to our savory-only approach. The reason is that neither my wife nor I are hugely into sweets. I mean, we like them, but the prospect of making a cake and eating the whole things ourselves is off-putting because we know we’ll be sick of it after a couple of slices. For example, a month or so ago, I was craving muffins one Sunday and so I made a dozen cranberry muffins. I ate two that day and recently found the rest of them sporting blue and green hair styles that would have made the Sex Pistols jealous as they moldered away in a cake tin.

So, I must tell you that I am not the world’s best baker, which I hope is of some consolation to the food fans among you who daren’t bake because it seems too daunting a prospect. And, on the few occasions I do get my dander up and decide it’s time to butcher another recipe my mother could have turned out perfectly in her sleep, it is often bread (I refer to my comments about the lack of good bread in America below), and sometimes scones or muffins. Only very, very occasionally, will I try a pie or a tart. In fact, I think the last time I made a pie was about six months ago. It was a French apple tart and I made it with no rolling pin, no spatula and no oven, and the pain of making it has put me off trying another dessert since. (Needless to say, said tart had more in common visually with the face of a particularly zitty teenager than the recipe I was following.) But this past weekend, full of the festive spirit, and perhaps a couple of lunchtime sherries, I decided that since we were up to our elbows in eggs and flour (for the pasta) I might as well make a pie.

Riffing off the recipe for the French apple tart, (but replete with the right tools for the job this time), I skipped the apples and replaced them with a chestnut puree that I’d found at the supermarket in a dusty old can and bought on impulse. I always associate chestnuts with Christmas whether they’re in a stuffing, simply fire-roasted and cracked with a glass of sherry, or used in desserts because to me they impart one of the signature scents of the season. Real bakers, if you’ve bothered reading this far, feel free to smirk, or even guffaw, because all this really was was a pasty crust slathered with pastry cream (similar to a creme anglaise, or to you British readers, just vanilla custard), and then topped with the chestnut puree and finished with a shake of powdered sugar. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the sliced tart, so I’ve made a really weak attempt to recreate it in cross-section in photoshop (see above). Honestly though, in a season when a lot of desserts are heavy, full of seasoned, dried fruits, candied ginger and other spices, this one, if not exactly light given the butter and eggs, is clean-tasting, simple and straight-forward to prepare, and, perhaps most importantly to me, was widely acknowledged to be a success, which increases the chances that I’ll make it again some time. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the sweet pastry dough:
1/2 cup (4oz) room temperature unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 cups of all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted
1 whole egg
1/2 cup confectioner’s (icing) sugar
1/8 tsp baking powder

For the pastry cream/custard:
2 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean or 2-3 tsp of vanilla essence
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp plain flour, sifted
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
6 to 8 tablespoons of chestnut puree

4 egg yolks

Recipe:
For the pastry:

In a bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Using an electric mixer on low, beat until smooth.

Add the egg and beat until creamy. With a spatula, fold in the flour and baking powder, then beat with the electric mixer, again on low, until dough is evenly mixed and clings together.

Shape dough into a ball, cover in plastic wrap (cling film) and refrigerate for at least two hours. (mine was in the fridge overnight)

Bring to room temperature before use.

For the pastry cream/custard::

In a large bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar with a whisk. Whisk in flour and set aside.

In a large saucepan over high heat, combine the milk and the vanilla and bring to a boil.

As soon as milk boils, remove from heat and whisk half of hot milk into egg mixture.

Return milk to burner. As soon as milk comes to boil again, add eggy-milky mixture and whisk vigorously.

Stir mixture over high heat until it thickens and starts to boil again.

Remove from heat, pour into a bowl and press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard to stop a skin from forming.

Allow to cool completely before using.

Assembling it:

Preheat oven to 350F / 175C.

Remove dough from fridge and allow to come to room temperature.

Flour work surface and rolling pin before turning out dough. Roll dough into a rough circle, about 1/4 inch thick and wide enough to line a 10-inch pie dish. Pick up dough by rolling it around pin, and the lay onto pie dish.

Press dough gently onto dish and trim edges with a knife. Remove custard from fridge and immediately, using a spatula, dump in pastry cream/custard and smooth it so about 1/2 inch deep.

Then, very carefully do the same with the chestnut puree (or topping of your choice), making sure not to disturb the custard. It’s best to do this when custard is still cold as this makes it less likely that you’ll mix the puree and custard together while you spread one on top of the other.

Bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until chestnut puree has bubbled, thickened and looks shiny. Allow to cool thoroughly before serving at room temperature sprinkled with powdered sugar and with scoop of vanilla ice cream or dollop of whipped cream.

Accompany with your digestif of choice. I like a cognac or a calvados (French apple brandy).

Then, feel proud that you’ve made a great dessert, and bask in the warm glow while friends and relatives congratulate you!

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