A pie from the American South with a filling made with eggs, butter, flour and sugar flavoured with vanilla and lemon juice. It is similar to buttermilk pie.
To prepare raw chestnuts, cut a cross with a sharp knife onto the flat side. Put them into cold water, bring slowly to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove and peel the flexible shell and the papery inner skin while they are still hot. In savoury dishes, these often appear with cabbage or mushrooms, and in sweet dishes with chocolate or cream. In many places chestnuts are made into flour. This was associated with cucina povera, the food of the poor, but is now increasingly desirable.
Chestnut flour or farina dolce (sweet flour) is flour made from chestnuts and very good in cakes, biscuits/cookies imparting its meltingly sweet and nutty shortbread-like crumb and buttery flavor. While chestnut flour does not rise, goods made with chestnut flour will keep fresh for several weeks. (Non-rising breads made with flours that do not rise, were historically known as "downbreads" where English was spoken.) Farina dolce is used in many cuisines of the Mediterranean such as in Corsica, the Périgord and Lunigiana. The original main ingredient for polenta, chestnut flour is still used in Corsica for that purpose. The flour is a seasonal staple of the cucina povera in the mountainous region of Tuscany, where, during periods of economic stress or poor crop production, chestnuts, dried and ground into flour were used as a substitute for wheat or semolina for not only pastas but for porridge, breads, and various pastries, including necci-crisp-edged griddle or pancakes that are filled with savory meats or ricotta. In North America, the chestnut grows prolifically and also features greatly in many Native American traditional foods, particularly indigenous peoples of the northeast where the chestnut was boilded, roasted, and also milled for flour to make breads. High in calories, chestnut flour is a healthy option in place of wheat flour. In Italy, chestnut flour is most available in the fall when chestnuts become ripe for drying. Processed the traditional way, it takes about a month and 10 days drying time by low wood fire in a smoke house called a metato to achieve the proper level of dryness before the chestnuts can be milled into flour by millstones. Though typically their flour is only seasonally available, there are a few old mills, such as the Rossi mill in Fivizzano, producing since 1898, still milling today.
A hard cow's milk cheese made with pastuerised whole milk made by the Northumberland Cheese Company. It is made with vegetarian rennet and so is suitable for vegetarians.
An excellent version of Cheddar. This cheese was the winner of "Best Cheddar" at 1994 and 1995 British Cheese Awards.
Breast of chicken is the white meat from the breast of a chicken, usually served as a fillet or carved from the bird in slices.
