The chestnut tree, is often called the bread tree.

So many parts of this amazing tree are used for food. Not just the chestnuts, themselves. But using chestnut flour conjures up images of walking through immense and dense forests under canopies of leaves floating to the ground in fall. The leaves of the tree can be used to wrap cheeses and more. So, that’s a little bit about how these trees excel all year in differ ways. A new season is beginning as their yellow flowers bloom in the spring and call to the bees.

Who else has ever made this sweet smoky and complex “savory” cake?

Castagnaccio - chestnut flour cake with pignolia and rosemary

i did two things wrong when I first made this, but i had to make it when i did.

numero uno - i did not have raisins so i used craisins. tuscans, and especially elizabeth romer, who wrote the lovely book The Tuscan Year, are crying into their sangiovese. mia dispace!

numero duo boo-boo. usually advised to make this in a glass pie plate, which i have in the past, and that is perfectly fine and traditional, and still no reason to lose any sleep if you do.

however i knew i was taking (some!) of this cake to our writing group meeting and so instead, i lined a 10 inch tart pan with parchment paper so it would be easy to transport. and the other reason? i like the little fluted edge that bakes into the cake when using a hand cut parchment circle.

for the cake

300 grams of chestnut flour (i find it at capri flavors in morrisville, yes, it's worth the trip)

40 grams of organic sugar

2/3 cup finely ground almonds (walnuts are more traditional, but i didn't have any)

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup craisins or raisins (soaked in vin santo is even better)

2 cups water

3 tablespoons olive oil

for the top

1/2 cup untoasted pine nuts

three sprigs of rosemary, needles stripped off

preheat your oven to 400 degrees. prepare your parchment first or just have your glass pie plate at the ready. no need to flour and oil or any such excess.

with your scale, place a big stainless steel bowl on top and set the tare button to zero. this way you can measure all your grammed ingredients into the bowl at once. begin, and in the order listed add your ingredients into the bowl. using a wooden spoon stir everything vigorously till combined. scrape this batter into your pan, scatter the pine nuts and the rosemary on top.

place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 375. bake for 35 minutes or until set.

let cool completely. break off very small pieces, at a time. enjoy.

metric to standard conversions (and back again)

240 ml = 1 cup

1 kg = 2.2 lbs

0.45 kg = 1 lb

1 lt = 1.06 qt

0.95 lt = 1 qt

30 g = 1 oz = 2 tbs

60 g = 2 oz = 1/4 cup

115 g = 4 oz = 1/2 cup

180 g = 6 oz = 3/4 cup

225 g = 8 oz = 1 cup

450 g = 16 oz = 1 pint