How To Roast Chestnuts

This video from About.com shows a great way to cook fresh chestnuts. In a nutshell:

1. Score the chestnuts.
2. Boil the chestnuts.
3. Roast the chestnuts.
4. Steam the chestnuts.

Here are a few I cooked today while making dinner, using the techniques described in the video.
My bag of chestnuts:



My chestnuts boiling. (First, score the chestnuts in one slice along the rounded side. The video shows this nicely. Add the nuts to a pot, cover with cold water and a dash of salt, bring to a boil.)



My chestnuts roasting. (After the nuts come to a boil, fish them out and immediately transfer them to a hot oven, about 425 degrees F. I was already roasting potatoes so I decided to let the oven do double duty. You can see I don't even use a pan ... less clean up!)



My chestnuts ready to pop open and eat. (After the chestnuts roast in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, transfer to a bowl and cover for 15 minutes so they steam-cook the rest of the way. They'll be warm and easy to handle.)



The one departure here from tradition is boiling before roasting. I've tried roasting without boiling and I have to say ... boiling them first makes a moister (not chalky) nut that cooks evenly. They're also less apt to singe if you leave them in the oven a hair too long.

By the way, chestnuts are very low in fat. These 3 have about:

• 69 calories
• 1 gram total fat
• 15 grams carbohydrate
• 1 gram protein
• 1 gram fiber

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