Every year approximately 2 months before Christmas, I start getting giddy with excitement. So powerful is this Holiday for me that I am unshaken by the spooky merrry-making of Halloween, and I glaze past Thanksgiving with a grateful heart, but all the while looking ahead to Christmas Festivities.
This year however, I promised myself I would pay proper homage to the aforementioned two fabulous holidays and celebrate them whole-heartedly. So in all the frenzy of brainstorming creative costumes for Halloween, and planning a hearty Thanksgiving Feast, I forgot to get excited about Christmas! (*Gasp!*)
It took me until now – a mere 2 weeks before my favorite holiday of the year – to dawn with the realization that It’s Beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
So now that the Christmas Spirit has fully consumed me, I feel compelled to create dishes evoking memories of Christmas past. Chestnuts have always been one of my favorite winter munchies. The sweet succulent delights conjure images of the family enjoying these roasted delicacies while gathering ’round to watch movies in our pajamas. We found so many ways to enjoy them – drizzled with honey, sprinkled with salt, dipped in soy sauce. But in all these years of savoring them, I’ve never actually created a dish with them. So last night, I decided to work it into a simple weeknight pasta dish – letting the sweet smoky flavor of the chestnuts mingle with the savory taste of the mushrooms, and tying it all up with the peppery zest of the arugula and buttery nuttiness of parmesan cheese!
Gathering the Goodies:
- 3/4 cup of roasted chestnuts (recipe to follow), chopped
- 4-6 oz of pappardelle, tagliatelle or similar egg pasta
- 1-2 cups of arugula, washed
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 6 chinese black mushrooms, soaked for 20 minutes until soft, and sliced
- 1/4 cup shaved/grated parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- Oil, to cook
- a pinch of dried tarragon
- 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1-2 tsp soy sauce
Getting Into the Spirit:
- Prepare the Chestnuts: Cut the shell with an “X” where the shell bulges outward. Place the chestnuts in a dish and completely cover with water and soak for 20 minutes. Place in a baking dish and roast at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven, peel, and chop!
- Bring water to a boil, season with salt, and boil the egg pasta for 6-8 min, until cooked.Drain and toss with a little olive oil to prevent sticking.
- Saute the sliced mushrooms in oil and a little bit of soy sauce until the aroma fills the air
- Pour in the egg mixture and scramble everything up.
- Add the chopped chestnuts and cook for another few minutes. Stir in the pasta and the remaining olive oil and mix until everything is well coated.
- Add in half of the parmesan cheese, and sprinkle in tarragon and more salt & pepper to season.
- Turn the heat on low, add in the arugula and toss some more, making sure the arugula does not actually cook and stays crisp.
- Scoop onto a plate, decorate with more parmesan flakes, and fill your tummy with Christmas!
Variations:
- If you don’t have or don’t like black mushrooms, Portabello, oyster, or white mushrooms would be just as tasty
- If you can’t eat mushrooms, try other meaty veggies like eggplant. Other proteins like tofu or soy protein veggie “meat” products would blend well too.
- Try substituting spinach or even cabbage for arugula (although the cabbage would be better when well cooked)
- Indulge yourself and make a buttery cream sauce with herbs like tarragon, basil, thyme, or sage
- No one should be a scrooge, but if you can’t stand chestnuts (say it aint so), you can also use hazelnuts, walnuts, or almonds
This looks good! I love chestnuts but don’t use enough of it. VEry festive!
Think this would be a yummy dish, do like chestnuts.
This is a tasty pasta dish, I love that combination!
Oh wow, the X’mas tree looks stunning! I love X’mas evethough I’m ot celebrating it. Well, I love almost all the festive seasons such Hari Raya for the Muslims, Deepavali for the Indians, X’mas and of coz not to forget about the Chinese New Year which I’ll be celebrating it on next year Valentine’s Day! Yes, the coming CNY is fall on the 14th Feb’10. Fun huh!
Btw, the recipe looks great. I love any pastas!
p/s. I wonder what happen if the camels want to pee? Are they going to pee on the street? HAHA…
I think the most fun part of all the festive seasons are about shopping and sales….!!!! haha…
Haha, Kristy you have the funniest comments! I guess camels are so used to living in the desert that maybe they don’t have to pee so often, but yes I would imagine they’d pee on the streets (just like the horses in NYC do! yuck!)
Wow, I loved looking at all of these pictures. Rockerfeller centre looks awesome (something I’ve only ever seen in movies). Edinburgh castle is just too funny lol (and kinda cool too!) And the camel is just out of place (sorry Mr camel- you really are adorable but go somewhere warm and quiet!) Kay, I feel like a Scrooge now- I guess Mr Camel is just on a Christmas holiday. I’ll shut up about that now. The recipe looks amazing- I’d love to do like a double chestnut version with chetnuts and chestnut mushrooms 🙂 I really need to go shopping- food is running dangerously low at the moment. Oh but guess what… I made sweet potato lasagne last night and it was so fantastic. I did it minus the aubergine (because I didn’t have one) but even so, it was delicious! 🙂
Sanjana – you’re too cute! I love your idea of a double chestnut recipe – I’m looking fwd to that post! And I’m happy you made the sweet potato lasagne – it’s the greatest form of flattery when people try my recipes! Yay!
Shelly – awesome recipe – thanks for sharing.
Ah, you are bringing back memories of when I lived in Brooklyn! I’ve only ever used chestnuts in stuffing, but they get a little lost amidst all the bread, and this dish looks like it would really let them shine. A keeper!!
Thanks Tracy! I didn’t know you used to live in Bklyn! If I didn’t live in the awesome neighborhood of West Village, I’d choose to live in Brooklyn. It’s where a lot of the food movement is, and there has been an emergence of Brooklyn pride!
What an amazing pasta with chestnuts, sounds like an amazing combination!
Beautiful pasta. Chestnuts are so much work, we rarely cook with them. Then when we do, they’re so good we regret not using them more often.
I love the mob of Santas in the pic from Edinburgh — looks like a fun party!
Thanks Robin!
I know..they’re so time consuming. It took me an hour for the chestnuts and then 15 minutes for the pasta! I guess you can “cheat” by buying prepare chestnuts but it’s not as fun!
That’s lovely festive atmosphere. Looks like a lot of fun. Love the pasta dish. I always eat the chestnuts boiled. They are so good.
Mary – I’ll have to try boiling them next time!
Camels? Wow I would have never expected to see one of those in New York outside a zoo! As for you Pasta oh my! That looks so good and I can imagine the satisfying crunch with the roasted chestnuts 🙂
Seriously! This is my second time seeing a camel (the first time was in the Bronx Zoo!)
thanks for the great recipe and pics, camels in the city?
Delicious looking meal! It is very colorful! I think I would like to make this with tofu. I actually do not think I have had chestnuts in a long time! Time to have them again!
Thanks Noelle! I think they would be delicious w/ Tofu and it wasn’t until after I finished that I realized I could’ve added some. Wish I had thought of it BEFORE i made it!
there’s nothing like a NYC christmas! and your pasta looks heavenly!!! Not a cook, but this i have to try!
Thanks Shelly!
oh I love all the festive pictures!!!
This looks absolutely heavenly! I will certainly need to try this :]
wonderful dish! I just adore that last photo, it’s making me hungry
Who wouldn’t get in the Christmas spirit, walking by such gorgeous scenes every day. And a lovely pasta! Yum!
those noodles look very yellow/golden and eggy! interesting addition of the soy sauce. is that just for salt or for soy flavor?
Hi, I used the soy mostly to flavor the chinese black mushrooms. I find that it really brings out the flavor of the mushrooms, but I only used a tiny bit of it, so the noodles don’t necessarily have a soy flavor. If you want to create an Asian twist though, it could be interesting to use more amount of the soy sauce to flavor the noodles. Let me know if you ever try it!
This really looks like a great dish with the lovely color combinations.
Thanks Ryan!
I love CHESTNUTS. And I still have some in the fridge…freshly roasted. Now, I’ll have to make this!
Thanks for sharing the details. I found the details really helpful.