Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Chestnuts at Trader Joe's






We love to get chestnuts this time of year. In the past, we purchased frozen ones at Trader Joe's. Last week, we didn't find those but we found steamed ones in a box for $5.49 that were already peeled. Well, these are brilliant! Maybe purists will flinch, but we didn't miss at all burning our fingertips as we tried to pry the shell off of the meaty chestnut. Also, these tasted so much better than any other ones we've had. They had a sweetness to them that we hadn't tasted before. After just a few minutes in the oven, we were enjoying them as we watched Christmas in Connecticut by the fire. Perfection.

5 comments:

maggie said...

I'll have to look for those next time I'm shopping. I always end up with burnt fingers when we do chestnuts. Have you seen the new cookbook yet that uses all Trader Joe's recipes for the ingredients? It's called Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's and has some really great stuff in it. I bought it for myself as an early present and we've been having a blast checking out all the different recipes.

WYA! said...

We haven't seen that cookbook yet- what a great idea.

Rebecca said...

I love the idea of chestnuts so much more than the actual chestnuts. The ones I had couldn't be described as sweet in any way, so maybe I should give them another go. Thanks for the TJ's tip.

WYA! said...

Rebecca, you should definitely give these a try. Thank YOU for regularly leaving comments and making our blog feel more interactive!

Paul Baxendale said...

I know this chestnut post was from last year, but perhaps someone may be available to answer my question-- I have always done chestnuts myself, but did buy the steamed TJ's ones in a box to try. My first impression was I was a little freaked out because I expected them to be vacuum sealed-- they arent. They are just hanging out in the bag with some muddy looking liquid. Is this how they are supposed to look, or was all the air supposed to have been sucked out of the bag? They are extremely tender-- perhaps too tender?

Thanks!