Ingredients
15 1/2 oz can unsweetened chestnut
1 puree
6 oz unsalted (sweet) butter
4 oz castor sugar (v. fine grain)
8 oz darkest plain chocolate
2 tbsp brandy
1 piped cream (optional)
1 maron glace (optional)
Directions
Recommended to make 1 day ahead.
Melt Chocolate (this should be at least 55% cocoa - 75% is great!).
Put better in bowl. Beat until pale and creamy. Add sugar and beat
until fluffy andf light. Add chestnut puree and beat until thoroughly
blended and smooth. (a mixer is so much easier!!! I didn't have one
and found the best way to make sure it wasn't lumpy was to press the
puree through a sieve first - interesting texture!).
Add melted chocolate, brandy and 1 tb of water. Mix thoroughly.
Brush a 2lb bread tin lightly with oil and line with greaseproof
paper and brush LIGHTLY with oil.
Put mixture into tin - flatten top and place lightly oiled greaseproof
paper on top. Cover tin with foil and refigerate for at least 8 hours.
Serve straight from fridge optionally decorated with piped cream
and/or maron glace.
Note: This is a VERY rich desert; a 3/4 inch slice is usually enough!
Time: about an hour (+8 hours cooling) Source: My sister
Servings: 10 servings
Chocolate & Chestnut Loaf Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bread; Breads; Chocolate; Dessert; Nut
The History of Recipes
Academics have traced the existance of recipes back into the distant past, in fact as far back into history as the ancient Egyptians, and potentially, even further back. Having said that, in the main part, these ancient records were just simple pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for food preparation.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to food historians is a collection of ancient tablets in Sumerian which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel wonderful. During Roman times around 25BC a man called Apicius assembled some documents showing how to cook the recipes enjoyed by the Romans. In his scrolls, he tells us how the roman meals were separated into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and dessert, something we still use today. He also describes how the ancient chefs used many different spices, including a few you will know like thyme, fennel and parsley. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years there are some books dating from the fourteenth century ; a book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary titled `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these are nothing to do with the indian food that is familiar to us all today, but rather recipes for the types of meals enjoyed by the rich people of that time. In the fifteenth century, the Crusaders brought back a variety of spices and herbs from the holy lands, including spices like basil and coriander. These new foods and spices caused a surge in publications on food, most of which are now in private collections. During the succeeding few hundred years, the powerful families of Europe strove to serve up the most exotic banquets, and consequentially the best chefs and their recipe collections could command a high salary. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 1800s that fine cookery and recipe books became really popular. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, dedicated their lives to assembling, testing, and writing down recipes to help cooks of their time. By the arrival of the 20th century, recipe publications were greatly in demand mostly due to better eduction, people having increased leisure time and having more money to spend. Like it or not, the introduction of television brought us TV chefs and the accompanying recipe books. And that neatly brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting us all to search through thousands of recipes like those on this web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Chocolate & Chestnut Loaf recipe.
