Grilled Chestnuts - 1 - $ - V

If you are a southern hemisphere dweller you might be noticing the weather getting a little cooler, the sky getting darker earlier and the colours around you changing. Even though I am not the biggest fan of the chillier seasons, I still appreciate Autumn and the changes it brings to the world around me.

My FAVOURITE thing about Autumn though is chestnuts! I love love love these little babies and make sure that I savour them for the short time they around each year. If you are dining out you may see them appearing on menus; often accompanying some kind of pumpkin dish or being stuffed into raviolis. But the simplest, and for me, the most delicious thing you can do is grill the chestnuts and just eat them straight from the shell.


All you have to do is:

• Buy some chestnuts from your local grocer or pick them straight from the tree if you are lucky enough to have one (put gloves on though, they are spiky little beasts before harvested)
  
• Heat your grill on medium-high
• Score an 'X' with a sharp paring knife into the shell (be very careful doing this, it is easy to slip off the nut and cut yourself; and if you don't score them they will explode)
• Place in a dish and grill for about 10 minutes each side - if you don't have a grill, roast them in the oven in a dish with its lid on
  
• The shells will start to blacken, but that's fine because then you peel it off and devour the hot little morsel hidden inside
• Grab your bowl of nuts, a glass of red, get under the doona and start the DVD

Enjoy!