Chestnuts roasting or simmering?

This Christmas season, we celebrated with our family and returned to many of our favourite foods and snacks. Charles saw an interesting recipe for chestnuts on a video on his phone. They weren’t roasted on an open fire, so it was going to be possible to make it in our kitchen. The chestnuts recipe is called “Caldarroste Dolci”, one of the many regional Italian versions of this dish. Some regions use wine and more savory spices, and others use water and citrus and a sweeter syrup. We prepared the latter.

Recipe
5 cups of washed chestnuts.
4 sticks of cinnamon bark
Peels (with pith) of 1 orange or large lemon.
Juice of the orange or lemon
4 cups water.

Instructions
With a very sharp knife, score an X on the round side of each chestnut.
In a large flat pan or electric skillet, bring the chestnuts with the peel and cinnamon and water to a steady low boil and cook for 15 minutes.

Remove the chestnuts from the liquid and add sugar to liquid and continue to boil and reduce to a syrup.

At the same time, wrapped in foil, bake the chestnuts for 10 minutes. Then unwrapped for another 15 to 20 minutes until the shells peel back and the flesh can be easily pierced with a fork.

Return the chestnuts to the syrup and toss to coat, removing the cinnamon and peel at the end.

Serve them warm or at room temperature in their shells.