Mark Hix recipes: Chestnuts can give bite to a salad, stuffing - and even cocktails

Blanched, peeled and frozen, chesnuts can be kept for up to nine months for use in soups, stuffings and snacks

A friend of mine and shooting companion in Lyme Regis, Chris Baréz-Brown, dropped off a big old bag of chestnuts from a tree in his garden a few weeks back – and it got me thinking that we don't really use chestnuts enough in cooking.

On Christmas Day, of course, they're a popular ingredient in stuffing, and more adventurous souls might toss them into the sprouts with some bacon.

But after that, they tend to get left in the fruit bowl to go mouldy.

There are plenty of chestnuts on the market now, so if you are a fan, or if you too have a tree, you can get preserving them.

Blanched, peeled and frozen they can be kept for up to nine months for use in soups, stuffings and snacks.

Partridge stuffed with chestnuts and celery

Serves 4

There is some great British Fenland celery on the market at the moment – it will be in season for a few months (look out for more celery recipes in January).

It's a really versatile vegetable to use in soups, salads, or a stuffing like this.

8 oven-ready partridge, preferably with their livers
Butter for basting
Salt and freshly ground black pepper For the stuffing
About 100g of butter, softened
2 sticks of celery, peeled if necessary and cut into small dice
10-12 chestnuts, peeled as above and quartered
The leaves from the celery head, chopped
1tbsp chopped parsley
100-120g fresh white breadcrumbs
A glass of red wine
300-400ml homemade gravy (see below)

Remove the partridge from the fridge about an hour before cooking. Gently cook the celery in the butter for 2-3 minutes, stirring every so often, until soft. Mix with the breadcrumbs, chestnuts, celery leaves and parsley. Remove the livers and hearts from the partridge if they have them, chop roughly and add to the stuffing mixture. Season and stuff into the cavity of the partridge.

Preheat the oven to 240C/gas mark 8. Season the birds, then heat an oven-proof pan on the stove with a little butter and lightly brown the birds on the breasts and legs and roast for 15 minutes, basting every so often.

Remove the birds from the roasting pan and keep warm. Place the pan on the stovetop on a medium flame, add the wine and stir with a wooden spoon to remove any cooking juices and residue from the base. Boil for a minute or so, then add your pre-made gravy. Simmer for a few minutes, season to taste and serve in a warmed sauce boat or serve poured over the bird.

Homemade gravy

500g chicken wings, chopped
1 large onion, peeled, roughly chopped
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
1 leek, trimmed, washed and roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1tsp tomato purée
1tbsp flour
500ml cider (optional)
2ltrs chicken stock (2 good cubes will do)
6 black peppercorns
A few sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Roast the chicken wings, the vegetables and garlic for about 15-20 minutes until lightly coloured, giving them a good stir every so often.

When they are a nice golden brown colour, add the tomato purée, then the flour, and stir well with the bones and vegetables in the roasting pan. Return the pan to the oven for another 10 minutes.

Remove the roasting tray from the oven to the hob. Add a little of the stock and give it a good stir over a low flame. This will remove any residue from the tray and begin the thickening process.

Transfer everything into a large saucepan, cover with the rest of the stock and the cider, if using, and some cold water if the stock doesn't cover the bones.

Add the peppercorns, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, skim off any scum that forms and simmer for 2 hours. The pan may need topping up with water to keep the ingredients covered. Skim occasionally as required.

Strain through a fine-meshed sieve and remove any fat with a ladle. Check its strength and reduce the gravy if necessary. If the gravy is not thick enough, dilute some cornflour in a little cold water and stir it in.

The Conkerer

Serves 2

There are lots of new British drinks producers emerging and this particular one, a gin, is made in Christchurch, and is called Conker: Dorset Dry, the first from my home county.

2 large measures of Conker gin
2tbsp chestnut syrup
400ml tangerine or mandarin juice
Soda water to top up
2 chestnuts in syrup from the chestnut caramel recipe

Put the gin, chestnut syrup and mandarin juice in a highball glass or similar and mix well. Half-fill with ice, then top up with soda water. Garnish with a couple of chestnuts skewered on cocktail sticks.

Pheasant, pennywort and chestnut salad

Serves 4

This is a completely wild dish and potentially – if you shoot, forage and > know where there's a chestnut tree – it's a free meal. If you made the Moroccan lentil and pheasant soup the other week, then this is a great way to use the breasts or vice versa. Pennywort is pretty common everywhere, and once you've found a spot you can pick as much as you need as it will just keep returning and spreading every year.

2 pheasant breasts
60g butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A couple of sprigs of thyme
20 chestnuts
A couple of handfuls of pennywort or small salad leaves For the dressing
1tbsp sherry vinegar
3tbsp walnut oil
1tbsp vegetable or corn oil

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 5. Crisscross the tops of the chestnuts with a small knife, put them in a small baking tray and cover them with foil. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the skins come away from the chestnuts easily.

Pheasant, pennywort and chestnut salad (Jason Lowe)

Remove from the oven and leave until cool enough to handle. Melt the butter in a small saucepan that will fit the breasts tightly. Season the pheasant and add to the pan with the thyme. Cook them on a very low heat with a lid on for 5-6 minutes, then remove from the heat and take the lid off (a simmer plate is ideal for this, for keeping the temperature down).

Remove the breasts from the butter and transfer to a chopping board. Carefully remove the skins from the chestnuts and add them to the pan with the pheasant butter in. Whisk the sherry vinegar and oils together and season.

To serve, thinly slice the pheasant and arrange on serving plates with the chestnuts and leaves.

Candied vanilla chestnuts

These are a great thing to keep preserved for dipping in chocolate, using in desserts, garnishing cocktails and myriad other uses.

300g Demerara sugar
300ml water
30-40 chestnuts
1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways and scraped

Crisscross the tops of the chestnuts with a small knife, bring a pan of water to the boil, add the chestnuts and simmer for a couple of minutes, then drain in a colander. Once cool enough to handle, carefully remove the skins and put to one side. Put the sugar and water in a heavy based saucepan on a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Boil for 2-3 minutes, then add the vanilla pod and seeds and the chestnuts. Bring back to the boil then simmer for another 2-3 minutes and remove from the heat. Spoon the chestnuts and syrup into sterilised preserving jars and seal. Store in a cool place for up to six months.

Chocolate dipped chestnuts

Makes 20 or so

These make great little after-dinner chocolates – alternatively, box or bag them up as Christmas gifts or put them under the tree for people to nibble on.

200-250g good-quality 70 per cent dark chocolate, broken into pieces
20 or so candied chestnuts (see above), drained
20 or so cocktail sticks

Chocolate dipped chestnuts (Jason Lowe)

Put the chocolate pieces in a dry, clean bowl over a pan of simmering water, heat for five minutes or so, stirring every so often until the chocolate has melted.

Line a tray with clingfilm. Dry the chestnuts off with some paper, then skewer them with a cocktail stick and dip into the chocolate until evenly coated; then transfer and stand on the clingfilm.

Once set, store in a sealed container in a cool place.