Chestnuts for Dinner


  Chestnut dinner

Photographs and text by Corey Amaro


Chestnuts roasted on an open fire while friends gathered around the table with a hunk of baguette, a bottle of wine, and a pot of soup simmering on the stove. The evening cold stayed outside glazing the scenery white while the flavors of cracked chestnuts, red wine, sliced pears, and a hint of roquefort melted between the cracks.

 

  Chestnuts roasting

Dinner by the fire that is what I love best when the season's air breathes cold.

 

 

Roasted chestnuts

The chestnut pan with its long handle, and slotted bowl makes it easy to toss and turn the chestnuts without burning oneself. The chestnuts when cooked are dumped onto newspaper and wrapped.

In Brittaney, the part of France where French Husband is from they eat roasted chestnuts with roquefort. Our friends from the south of France, found out after the first bite what they had been missing.

 

Dinner winter

We had some of my friend's olives, the taste of fennel was inviting.

A winter's cornucopia poured out.

Hearty.

Earthy.

Soul food.

 

Dinner

I think I have a love affair with food.

Especially when friends are gathered around the table.

The aroma, flavors, ambiance, the plates and the shine of the glass, the candle light, the music in the background, the warmth of the fire, the conversation between bites, the mouth's movements, the way one holds the fork, the soft glow that all this gives.. yes I have a love affair with food.

 

After dinner dishes

…Strange but true I love clean up too.

What is your favorite meal time?

 



Comments

34 responses to “Chestnuts for Dinner”

  1. I just bought chestnuts…my daughter, Sophia, and I had them (for the first time) in Paris. I was wondering how to roast them, now I know-thanks. My favorite mealtime is our evening meal in the wintertime. I make lots of stews and soups-one dish meals-and we sit around the roaring fireplace in the living room, balancing bowls on our knees, slurping and talking about the days events…

  2. What a beautiful post with winter knocking at the door. The warmth of your pictures breathed the warmth of your evening. The sound of laughter is my favorite part of a meal. Seeing smiles through the candlelight warms my world. Thank you for such fun.

  3. Chestnuts and red wine……….HEAVEN

  4. Could you roast chestnuts in the oven if you don’t have a fireplace?
    My favorite part of a meal is dessert and coffee when everyone sits back and relaxes and the conversation continues.

  5. I think my favorite meal time is the one I just lived vicariously through you and this post!

  6. oh i want to try
    roasted chestnuts with roquefort! must be delish!
    wonderful photos corey..xx

  7. Looks like a wonderful time. I love chestnuts, I’m going to try them with roquefort! My favorite meal is dinner, it’s nice to wind down.

  8. My favorite time is the sitting around afterwards, happy bellies, and talking talking talking. Everyday meals aren’t like that–we’re all in a hurry to get it done–so nights with friends around a table are precious.

  9. Since I am not only a Francophile but also a Chocoholic, my favorite part of the evening meal is DESSERT time 🙂

  10. Looks like a splendid evening!

  11. Oh…and thank you for the fabulous photos and letting us all join in on your evening meal with friends. Your photos are WONDERFUL!

  12. Corey, if you love clean-up, you could come to our house for meals. We’d be glad to make you feel right at home 😉

  13. My favorite meal times are the ones that linger. Lovely post, make me wish I had a fireplace. I remember trying to roast chestnuts in our barbeque when I was little, my British mother was missing them. I don’t think I liked them but now my adult mouth wants to taste them.

  14. mmmmmmmmmm wish I had been there.

  15. Ah, my favorite mealtime? I won these hips the hard way. I love all meals. I suppose my favorites are when family and friends are gathered around our table, talking, eating, enjoying and that soft, quiet, hum that I’ve spoken of that comes for a few moments when everyone is truly sated and enjoying the tastes. Love chestnuts.

  16. The warmth of your photos and sharing a pot of soup with friends, dinner would be my favorite meal time.

  17. You had me at chestnuts… I am absolutely crazy about them and will go great lengths to get some!!!!
    Isabel

  18. This post. Pure velvet….

  19. My favorite meal looks just like your pictures. Sure, it’s about good food, great tastes mingled with an excellent red wine but it’s mostly about ambiance and talking and getting high on people.
    I would kill right now for a roasted chestnut with a little Roquefort…

  20. My favorite part of a dinner is the conversation, sharing of stories, life experiences and then the food.
    You, Corey, have passion and it is reflected in all you do. We love your passion and that you share it with us.
    You described exactly how I feel about having dinner with friends, even cleaning up.

  21. You’re killing me! The day I found out I was allergic to nuts was the worst day of my life. I actually sobbed on the way home from the clinic, mourning the fact that I would never, ever be able to eat another cashew or peanut or pecan or…chestnut roasted on an open fire.
    I’ll have to just comfort myself with your ideas of wine and soup.

  22. Chestnuts are very dear to my heart. They were the only luggage that I carried as a 14 yr old immigrant into this country. I’m so glad I did not understand a word of English. The custom’s officer laughed hysterically. I found myself in the center of at least a half dozen officers as I tried to hold on tightly to my little wicker basket and my precious chestnuts.
    My favorite food, açorda de mariscos!

  23. That looks so utterly inviting Corey, I wish I was around your table tonight. We have 16″ of snow here so it has much appeal. I don’t roast chestnuts I don’t know why but I want to. How do you put roquefort on ? I like supper best and sometimes very late breakfast by which I mean 11’s – good coffee and something sweet. Would love you to publish the chestnut and roquefort thing, Jx

  24. Such nice pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I would have loved to share your dinner!!!
    XX

  25. What simple, elegant moments captured forever. I always think of walking through the streets of NYC and Rome, near the Spanish steps, when I smell roasted chestnuts. Now, I’ll think of these marvelous images, too.

  26. Rebecca from the pacific northwest

    First photo: looks like the guy at upper left is sitting at a table with on-fire tablecloth. Made me look twice!
    Chesnuts: remind me of my honeymoon. Switzerland. Early December. Chesnuts in paper cones from street vendors. Totally in love.

  27. OK this weekend I’m trying chestnuts, sounds too good . . .but, wish I was there for that beautiful evening meal at your house!

  28. My favourite mealtimes are the impromptu ones, where you decide to have dinner together on the spur of the moment and for whatever reason, the pantry, refrigerator and wine rack are all in symphony; a beautiful meal is had where one was never planned. My favourite, hands down.

  29. you darlings keeping warm? mlle annie ok with the cold?
    i’m an habitual nosh freak, so all day everyday is my favorite time to eat, but if i stop for an actual dinner, it is very late, like 11pm. m

  30. My very first roasted chestnuts came from a street vendor in Vienna.
    I had been hiking and, occasionally, eurail-passing alone in Europe and had bought myself, as a treat, a ticket to see Nureyev dance at the Vienna Opera House. It was deep winter and as I trudged through the snow toward the Opera House a wondrous aroma from a street vendor’s cart wafted under my nose. I didn’t know what he was selling. I had never seen a chestnut before. I only knew that I had to buy one of his little paper cones filled with something hot. A lovely discovery!

  31. Hi Corey,
    My favorite meal this year is Christmas Eve, cause I’m calling the shots! We probably had 27 side dishes on Thanksgiving and I’m not doing that again! So it’s Lasagna and Salad and crusty bread, with a moist carrot cake for dessert with tea, coffee and hot chocolate. I can cook ahead and bring it to Mom’s house and she won’t have to do anything. Family cozy time and no pressure. Enjoy your food, I sure do!
    Sherry

  32. The photo of French Husband and the 2 guests look like a scene from a movie! What a beautiful picture. You have a lovely life Corey.

  33. Your descriptive words make my mouth water! I love the tinkling sound of treasured dishes with mixie matchie touches here and there! To show the next generation how to appreciate such things, we bring out memories of great grandparents and also a few treasures unearthed from here and there to further the ambiance, but those impromptu gatherings when things are just scrawled out in front of us, talking and making crumbly messes are just as treasured for sure!

  34. Margaret Sequeira

    sounds so amazing!
    My favorite meal? Well I love food too – cooking, baking, sharing with others. I love making breakfast for my partner while our daughter still sleeps on my day off (like I did today). I love family dinners with just the 3 of us around the table. I love it when my daughter makes me a grilled cheese sandwich! I love meals with family and friends.
    I am thinking that I really want to try roasted chestnuts!

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