Pasta con Castagne e Funghi

Pasta con castagne e funghi is an autumn dish of fresh egg pasta ribbons with chestnut and forest mushrooms. Each Autumn, chestnuts and mushrooms grow in abundance in Italy’s forests and woods. They come into season at the same time, and are often foraged together.

Chestnuts and mushrooms are perfect companions, and not just in the forest. Chestnuts and mushrooms are just another of nature’s examples where what grows together, goes together.

Calabria grows more chestnuts than almost any other Italian region, and chestnuts run through its autumn cooking. Even though most of the chestnut harvest here is exported to other regions, chestnut dishes are popular in Calabria. This recipe is typical of how Calbrians combine autumn ingredients for a simple but tasty seasonal meal.

This pasta con castagne e funghi recipe uses the chestnuts in two ways. You boil half and blend them into a smooth cream, which coats every strand of pasta and carries the chestnut flavour evenly through the dish. You roast the other half and roughly chop them, which adds small pieces of chestnut with more bite.

Fresh chestnuts give the best result when you can find them and have time to boil, roast and peel them. But for a quicker version, use unsweetened chestnut purée for the cream and a vacuum pack of whole peeled chestnuts for the texture. It takes a fraction of the time and still tastes great.

Which mushrooms you use is up to you. Porcini give the best result if you’re lucky enough to find them, whether you forage them yourself or buy them fresh in season. But you can make this with any mix of woodland mushrooms.

Buon appetito! 🇮🇹

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Pasta con Castagne e Funghi

Pasta with chestnuts and forest mushrooms, typical autumn dish from Italy's Calabria region. made with long pasta tossed in chestnut cream, with seasonal forest mushrooms and chopped chestnuts.

Ingredients

For the Pasta

• Long pasta (enough for 4 people)

For the Sauce

• 400 grams fresh whole chestnuts
• 200 grams mixed wild mushrooms (cleaned gently with a damp cloth)
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 shallot (finely chopped)
• 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley (finely chopped)
• Parmigiano Reggiano (grated (optional))

Instructions 

• Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
• Cut a slit across the curved side of the chestnuts. Boil half of them in plenty of water for 30 to 40 minutes, until soft right through. half the chestnuts in a large saucepan of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes.
• Spread the remaining chestnuts out on a baking tray and roast for 30 minutes.
• Peel the boiled chestnuts and put in a food processor along with a few tbsp of chestnut cooking water and blend to a thick, smooth paste.
• After roasting wrap the roasted chestnuts in a clean tea towel for 5 minutes. Peel all the chestnuts while they're warm, removing the hard shell and the thin brown skin underneath. Then roughly chop them.
• Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the shallot and chopped parsley until soft.
• Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt; then fry for 5 to 8 minutes, until they colour.
• Cook the pasta until al dente and keep a cup of the cooking water.
• Add the chestnut puree and chopped chestnuts to the pan, and combine with the mushrooms until combined. Add a ladleful of pasta water to loosen the mixture if necessary.
• Toss the pasta through the chestnut cream, adding a splash of the cooking water to loosen it.
• Garnish with some chopped parsley and serve straight away.

Notes

1. For a quicker version, skip steps 3 to 7 and use unsweetened vacuum packed chestnuts. Whole and pureed packs are both readily available and make this dish very quick to make.
2. Peel fresh chestnuts while they’re warm. Once they cool, the inner skin sticks fast.
3. Porcini give the best result, but any mix of woodland mushrooms works.
4. Loosen the chestnut cream with a little pasta water to help it coat the pasta evenly.