How delicious are chestnuts? I personally adore them, and every year I look forward to autumn knowing that I can finally enjoy them. I mainly love chestnuts cooked in the Sicilian “caliatore,” essentially an iron tube about 3 feet high, where coals are placed at the base, and inside a basket at the top, they are cooked.

Apart from that, it’s possible to cook chestnuts at home using more classic methods like the oven or pan. In recent years, a new cooking method in an air fryer has also become popular, where I have already proposed the recipe on the blog at this link.

This time, I wanted to use chestnuts to make a risotto, and I must say I achieved an amazing result! Perhaps among the best risottos I’ve ever made, as said by those who regularly taste my recipes. Made with homemade vegetable broth and fresh chestnuts from the Madonie.

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Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 1 Hour
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Other, Air Frying
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Autumn

Ingredients

10.5 oz chestnuts
2 onions
2 carrots
3.5 oz celery
1 tbsp salt
to taste extra virgin olive oil
14 oz rice
5.3 oz champignon mushrooms
1/2 espresso cup white wine
1 pat butter
2 tbsps grated Parmesan

Tools

Pot
Saucepan
Air Fryers

Steps

To make the Chestnut and Mushroom Risotto

First, we need to make the homemade vegetable broth, so take a pot and fill it almost completely with water. Then add a peeled onion, peeled carrots, and celery, and bring to a boil. Also add the salt, cover with the lid, and let it simmer for about 40 minutes on low heat.
Meanwhile, we take care of the chestnuts, so we have to make cross incisions with a small knife. Then cook the chestnuts in an air fryer for 16 minutes at 392°F.
Once the time has passed, take out the air fryer basket, move the cooked chestnuts onto a cloth, and cover them completely for about 5 minutes. Then peel the chestnuts and set aside.
To continue, return to our vegetable broth and remove the boiled vegetables from the broth using a slotted spoon. Place the vegetables inside a container with a ladle of vegetable broth and the peeled chestnuts. Then proceed to blend everything with an immersion blender.
At this point, let’s start with the risotto, so heat a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan and sauté a chopped onion for a few minutes. Next, toast the rice by pouring it completely into the pan over high heat. Stir continuously for a few minutes, being careful not to burn it. Deglaze with the white wine by adding it and wait for the alcohol to completely evaporate.
For this step, lower the heat and add to the toasted rice the finely chopped mushrooms and the previously blended chestnut and vegetable cream. Also add a ladle of broth and stir well until all the ingredients are combined.
Proceed to cook the risotto by following the same method: add a ladle of broth at a time, stirring almost continuously until the rice is well cooked.
To complete, when the rice is well cooked and creamy, turn off the heat and add the butter. Stir until the butter has completely melted. Finally, add the grated Parmesan and finish the creaming process by stirring everything together.
Finally, serve your risotto on a plate and garnish with some crumbled chestnuts and a drizzle of raw extra virgin olive oil! If you prefer, sprinkle with additional grated Parmesan.