Roasted Chestnuts - Castanhas Assadas

Since chestnut season has officially kicked off, I thought it would only be appropriate to put together a post on “How to Roast Chestnuts”.

Roasted Chestnuts

Roasted Chestnuts
1kg chestnuts
Sea salt
Water

If oven roasting preheat oven to 180C | 355F, if using stove top use medium low heat.

With a small steady knife make a cut in each chestnut

Rinse chestnuts well in cold water

Spread wet chestnuts on pan

Salt generously

Roast for 20-30 minutes, or until tender to taste. *Note: When roasting chestnuts they may crack and pop so it’s good to use lid then check and rotate frequently.

Portuguese eat a lot of chestnuts and to keep up with the demand, in Portugal we have all sorts of chestnut roasters. The most common home use option is a pan with perforations on the bottom that can be used on a gas stove. Chestnuts can be roasted in the oven with a cookie sheet or on a flame using a holed bottom pan. I’ve never tried this but putting a holed bottom pan on a barbeque may work well also and give chestnuts a nice smoky flavour. Chestnuts are usually done when their skin is burnt and curled up.

Serve hot! Hot chestnuts are a bit like dealing with a hot potato but taste their best when hot off the flame.

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Sao Martinho & Chestnut Festival

Today’s a special day, especially if you like chestnuts, wine and good deeds. This is the day from top to bottom of Portugal, we celebrate Sao Martinho (Saint Martin’s Day), and we do it with Chestnuts and Aqua Pe.

First you may be asking who is Sao Martinho and what is Aqua Pe? Well the story of Sao Martin goes something like this;

Sao Martinho (St. Martin), born around 317 AD, he was a Roman solider who belonged to the Roman Empire and held the spiritual beliefs of Roman mythology. At the time, Roman Mythology was very inward looking towards the Empire and had little consideration for others. On a particularly dreadful winter day, Martin was caught in a downpour of rain with only his cape to protect him. While riding to get out of the horrible weather he was approached by a beggar, half naked with hardly a thread to cover him from the cold weather.

Martin didn’t have any change to help the man but was moved by the man’s misery - he grabbed his sword - reached back for his wool cape, cut it in half and covered the beggar. The other soldiers riding with Martin laughed that he was giving way his protection. But legend has it when Martin covered the beggar the clouds drifted and beams of sun lit up the sky.

The following day, Martin heard a voice through a dream, “Every time you do a good deed for your less fortunate and unprotected bothers, you are doing onto me”. From this day on, he began looking at and treating people differently. Martin died on November 8th, 397 AD and was laid to rest in the city of Tours, France on November 11th. He was later canonized as a saint. Sao Martinho is celebrated throughout Europe on this day, with many agriculture fairs, feasts, festivals and especially by wine makers.

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Figos Cheios made with Faro Almonds

In writing this post I called a few friends and family members to get the scoop on the history of the “Figo Cheio”. So far none of my super sleuths have uncovered the mystery but seems we’ve somehow created a stubborn challenge to uncover the truth of its origin. Until then, everyone agrees, the Figo Cheio belongs to the Algarve and is an exclusive delicacy of the region.

Figos Cheios

What is absolutely certain is how good they taste. Made with local Algarvian figs and Faro Almonds, known around the globe as some of the finest, and of course traditional spices like anise seed, cinnamon and a touch of sugar. If you’re a fig fan these are a must try when visiting the Algarve.

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Chinese Gourmet Restaurant in Almancil

A few nights ago we had a craving for something different, the other side of the pond kind of different, which was the perfect opportunity to go to a place we had heard nothing but good reviews about. So off we went to Chinese Gourmet in Almancil … tucked away in a little side street we whipped by it a couple of times but when I called the restaurant, their hostess was wonderful in directing us and stayed on the phone until we found it, when we arrived she was awaiting us on the patio. This was a good start.

Chinese Gourment Restaurant in Almancil

We were seated right away and menus arrived almost instantly. Now the choosing, when you love food, having a long list of good looking choices is similar to slow painful torture and the thought of missing a great dish by ordering a lesser one seems to loom over every written line. Moses wanted something different, really different, so for our appetizer we decided on fried seaweed, we made sure we had a back up plan and also ordered the spring rolls. I’m a bit hesitant about ordering spring rolls at Chinese restaurants in the Algarve since most end up in a soft crepe type of roll, rather then the thin crispy rolls I’ve grown accustomed to in my travels, so we’ll see…

Browsing through the menu I noticed Read more

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Aquardente de Medronho

This past week we had two spirited events, Halloween on the Oct. 31st., and “All Saints Day” on Nov. 1st. Celebrating Halloween is something quite new in Portugal, but “All Saints day” has been celebrated here, and around the globe by Catholics for centuries. With all this talk of Spirits, I think this is a good time to talk about another special spirit, not the spooky kind but rather the blow your socks off powerful kind. What Spirit am I talking about…? Aguardente de Medronho.

Aguardente de Medronho Algarve

The alcoholic drink that’s been associated with fine drinking for decades and is exclusive to the Algarve. Read more

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Algarve in November – Things To Do

From Theater to Festivals, Algarve in November promises to be a cozy month of things to do.

We just finished skimming through the month’s list of events in the Algarve Guide and have highlighted our top picks.

Starting off – Calling all Chestnut Lovers!
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire - no, not the Christmas carol although Christmas decorations are suddenly everywhere, but rather Chestnut fever, has finally hit the Algarve. It’s official: Algarve chestnuts are finally here, and not a moment too soon far as I’m concerned! So, what happens when we Algarvios have a food we love and it comes in season? We throw a festival…of course! So November gets warmed up with “Roasted Chestnut Festivals” in a few cities. But as the saying goes; where there’s smoke there’s fire, couldn’t help myself, and along with these fabulous hotties comes a pairing of traditional drinks such as “aqua-pe”, jeropiga, new wine and if your really adventurous we suggest, the slow smooth burn of some serious aguardente!

Chestnuts