Torino Pudding

Where do I begin.  First, I should probably tell you what a Torino Pudding actually is: chestnuts and chocolate.  Sounds simple right?  Nope, not when it's prepared the Maria Luisa way.  If you are going to start your directions with "peel chestnuts," you might want to consider telling us how.  Maybe chestnuts of the 1950s were not the hard shelled, impossible to peel items they are in the 2010s?  My guess is that they were, but for some reason Maria Luisa didn't see chestnut peeling tips and tricks as an essential element to her directions.  Even though an essential ingredient is chestnuts, but whatever.  I'm a resourceful girl, I figured it out.  Thankfully, the chestnut is not a foreign object in my world.

My fondest memory of chestnuts is from my day spent walking around Cluj-Napoca, Romania.  I was there visiting my host brother and his roommate, a stop-over on my way to Budapest.  It was the beginning of November and the air had that perfect crisp fall feel.  The downtown area of Cluj is quite typical of a city center.  There are shops, restaurants, cultural attractions, and street vendors.  I experienced my very first roasted chestnut vendor that day and I will always remember walking around Cluj while snacking on chestnuts.  Sorry, but I will take Cluj and chestnuts over Times Square and a pretzel any day.

Okay, back to the recipe at hand.  By the time I was finished peeling the chestnuts and turning them into paste, my fingers looked like Freddy Kreuger had taken his best shot at them.  And I still had to grate the chocolate.  This recipe is a bit insane.  It is simple in the fact that it does not require many ingredients and the act of combining them is basic - mix and chill.  It's the prep work to get to that stage that is a complete ____ .  I actually brought the pudding to Thanksgiving dinner and, no lie, told everyone that if they did not like it I did not want to know.  After all the stress of making the thing I probably would have cried if even a single person had told me they were not a fan.  Thankfully, that did not come to pass and everyone said they really enjoyed it. So hopefully, if you are brave enough to attempt it as well, you and those you share it with will agree,

Torino Pudding

Budino Torinese

Ingredients:

1 lb chestnuts

6 Tbsp butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

3 oz. sweet chocolate - grated

Directions:

Peel chestnuts and cook in salted water for 10 minutes.  Drain and remove second skin rapidly so that they do not become cold.  Place peeled chestnuts in boiling salted water and cook for 30 minutes or until they are very soft.  

I'm not kidding, she started with "peel chestnuts."  There are several steps that should happen before you even get to the first level peel stage.  Fresh chestnuts cannot just be peeled; the shell is literally stuck to the meat of the chestnut.  If you are able to peel off the outer shell then you need to throw it out because it is most likely starting to rot from the inside out.

So, with that in mind, I'm going to tell you what worked for me.  There are plenty of instructions online, with and without video accompaniment, to aide this effort.  You can pick whatever works for you.  I cut an X into the flattest part of the chestnut and then boiled them for 20 minutes.  I started peeling them, keeping the water on a simmer.  If I was having trouble peeling both the outer shell and second skin, I peeled what I could and then back into the water it went.  Now, this is not the easiest way to go.  The softer the chestnut gets, the more likely it is that the meat will break apart as you peel.  That's great when you consider that you will have to sieve them next, not so great when you are trying to peel off the second skin.  The last thing that skin wants is to be peeled.  It will fight you the entire time.  Good luck.

Eventually you will be left with the chestnut meat and that bad boy needs to be turned to paste.  Yay!  A fine mesh strainer and the back of a spoon will be tedious but effective.  On the plus side, you'll have forearms of steel.

Once you've survived phase one, my suggestion is to forge ahead with grating your chocolate. If you interrupt the tedious bits with the easier bits, you'll lose steam and risk giving up on the whole endeavor.  You've made it this far, do not give in!

I used Baker's German Sweet Chocolate.  It comes in a nice 4 ounce bar, you just need to break off the last 4 pieces and you will have exactly 3 ounces ready to be grated.  I used my cheese grater for this job and it works find.  I also froze the chocolate beforehand to try and prevent it from melting in my hand.  It was effective, but that meant it felt like I was trying to grate concrete.  But let me repeat - it worked.

Now, we get to the easy stuff.  Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until completely blended.  Add the chestnut paste, grated chocolate, and vanilla.  Blend well.  

Line a mold (I used my bundt pan) with foil and fill with the chestnut mixture.

Even the top with the back of a spoon and cover.  Place in the refrigerator for at least four hours.  Full disclosure: I made this on the Monday evening before Thanksgiving.  It sat in the mold until Thursday morning.  This recipe will keep, if well covered, for up to a week.

When you are ready to serve, turn out onto your serving dish and remove foil.

Not the most appetizing looking food but it tastes like chocolate and chestnuts, which is really all that matters.  This is a actually a fairly rich dessert.  If it's been well blended it will be nice and smooth.  Using the German chocolate keeps it from being too sweet and overpowering the chestnut.