Just last week they held their first roasting (article here) It was very successful but they did slightly over exaggerate on a) the quantity of wood needed and b) the amount of sausages needed to satisfy the hungry hoards … at the end of the day, there  was still a large pile of wood sitting in the corner of the piazza and a fridge full of sausages in Aristo’s bar.

No problem, a good enough excuse to organise another event a week later.

And the Christmas decorations? Workmen were busily stringing up the decorations in Barga Vecchia while the roasting was taking place . Christmas seems to have come early this year.

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So just what are Mondine ?

Mondine  are made by roasting chestnuts in a special steel pan, shaped like a deep sided frying pan with holes in the bottom. The chestnut are first castrate (castrated)  by having a small incision made with a knife cut into them, removing a small portion of the skin so that the chestnuts do not explode in the heat of the fire.  They are then placed in a pan which is held over an open fire.

The pan has a long handle,  about a metre long allowing a good distance from the fire.  As the skin on the chestnuts closest to the bottom of the pan becomes burned the chestnuts are flipped over allowing the ones on top to become cooked.  This process is repeated until all the skins are crisp and practically burnt off.

Depending on  which tradition is followed,  a small glass of red wine is also tipped onto the chestnuts before a final roasting on the open flames.  The chestnuts are then either tipped onto a table or sometimes into a hessian sack which is agitated between two people until the remaining skins on the chestnuts have been removed.

These are the mondine and they are now ready to eat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbAQ_PbwiYk

post scriptum

The following morning the fire was still smoking and so rather than waste all that heat, a half a dozen potatoes from the giornaledibarganews vegetable garden were wrapped up in silver foil and buried in the hot ashes … an hour later, they were cooked and ready for the table. Split in half, a dollop of salted butter and nothing better in this world – tasty hot baked potatoes.

That afternoon, the fire was still going, it must have been some pretty good seasoned wood, so a final pan of roast chestnuts were quickly roasted and handed round before as darkness fell and the flames finally died down to reveal glowing embers, perfect for roasting sausages but a small problem arose – no grill to put them on.

This was solved by placing two found terracotta tiles onto the embers and cooking the sausages directly on the now heated tiles. Necessity is the mother of Invention after all.

Noi possiamo garantire la bontà delle cose che erano state preparate: le mondine, cotte con la classica padella, oramai una vera e propria rarità nelle feste paesane, erano dolcissime; il castagnaccio croccante e delicato e dolcissimi anche i necci con una ricotta da far venire l’acquolina in bocca solo a pensarci.

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Insomma proprio un bel pomeriggio, in mezzo a tanta brava gente di queste parti, in un paesino dal fascino tutto particolare ed a tanti sapori immutati nel tempo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlxZDN2tM7g

Sommocolonia was in festa today for the Festa of San Frediano – their patron saint. There is a phrase used in the area which says ” San Frediano – la neve al monte e al piano” meaning that snow generally falls on the area during the third week in November but no sign of snow in Barga today.

Roast chestnuts – castagne and castagnacci, necci con ricotta and vin brulé were all on offer this afternoon outside the church for those who made it up the hill.

How Sommocolonia ended up with an Irish patron saint is something of a mystery as Saint Fridianus (Italian: San Frediano ) was apparently a prince of Ireland who became a hermit on Mount Pisano after going on pilgrimage to Rome.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states: “Remarkable for sanctity and miracles was St. Fridianus (560-88), son of Ultonius, King of Ireland, or perhaps of a king of Ulster (Ultonia), of whom in his “Dialogues” (III, 10) St. Gregory the Great relates a miracle.”

He was appointed bishop of Lucca by the pope. During his episcopate, Lucca was attacked by the Lombards. He may have founded a group of eremetical canon priests; these canons merged with the Canons Regular of the Lateran in 1507. – source Wikipedia

Last year Aristodemo Casciani  (article here) finally said goodbye to this world after spending 86 years on the planet and for the last 12 months as a sign of respect, the bar has not organised any official outside events (apart from participating minimally in this year’s Barga Jazz Festival) and so this weekend was the first time that roasting chestnuts took place without the sound of Aristo’s accordion or keyboards in the background.

The family atmosphere was back as people roasted the chestnuts on an open fire and then used the glowing embers to cook sausages and ribs as the sun went down and the evening arrived – all of which took place to the sound of Giuliano Nardi and his fisarmonica and Emma e gli Aristodemo’s (minus their double bass player Leo Gnesi) providing the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3-lrzfbF7I

Then just to round things off -fresh Castagnaccio – the classic sweet dish from this area made from chestnut flour, was brought in to the piazza… it lasted but a few minutes. In fact later on this week the annual Castagnaccio contest will be taking place at Aristo’s – watch this space

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Let’s hope that the chestnut roasting season this year is a bit more easier for the AS Barga than it was last year.

If people remember, the weather last year more or less destroyed any chance of lighting fires and roasting chestnuts out in the open. Everything got cancelled due to torrential rain that just kept on falling day after day.

The AS Barga set out all their equipment, fires, stoves and tables all ready for the night of Halloween but in the end, the whole evening was cancelled due to the torrential rain ( article here)  and it get on doing just that every time they started to light their fires.

We finished that article last year by saying “Better luck next year A.S Barga.” …. by the looks of things, their luck is holding as there were large crowds all afternoon on the Fosso.

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Necci, mondine and vin brulè  on the Fosso this afternoon thanks to the sterling work of the  A.S. Barga who every year at this time set up their stall, kitchens and fires and fill the autumn air with the smell of roasting chestnuts.

As they are roasting for a large amount of people they have a different system for preparing them rather than using the more slower traditional padella -they instead use large metal cages which are turned slowly over the flames. As the cooking comes to an end they are turned faster and faster to knock out the burnt outer skin and leave just the cooked inner ready to be bagged up and given to the waiting crowds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Io2xn6vXd4

Necci – the simplest of ingredients …. sweet chestnut flour, water and salt mixed into a thick paste and cooked between two hot plates over a flame. Two metal plates, the testi or cotte, are oiled and heated and the chestnut paste is poured onto one of the plates, the other is placed over the top so that the necci can be cooked from both sides. A stick to press down on the top plate and in seconds you have one of the tastiest foods in this area. Add some ricotta and you have quite simply the Food of Gods.

That is if you are not over a certain age and remember that chestnuts were the staple diet of the poor in this area without which they would have perished in time of famine.

Maybe, now is the time to show the other side of the coin – Barga as a viable working community which sometimes flies in the face of what would be recognised as normal practice. One such occasion when it makes one feel very lucky be a member of this community happened this week in Aristos with the arrival of the great characters of Barga Vecchia, Natale Bertolini with a basket full of still warm freshly roasted chestnuts.

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The humble sweet chestnut has been an important ingredient in the Mediterranean diet – Homer mentions them, and Pliny even says which kinds were grown in Southern Italy. With time their cultivation spread throughout the peninsula, because they were one of the few food crops that could be grown on steep mountain slopes, and also one of the few crops that could be expected to provide sustenance through the long winter months.

By the middle ages castagne were the staple food of the peasants in large parts of Italy. In this area it has been the saviour of many people who otherwise would have starved when times got really bad and the sweet chestnut flour is still known to this day in Garfagnana as “poor mans flour”

Natale, one of the masters of roasting chestnuts showed just why he is so famous in the whole valley for his technique. We published an article about his methods back in March 2007 (article here)

There are various methods that people try to preserve the chestnuts well past the autumn and into the winter. Some try burying them in glass demijohns and flasks in an attempt to keep them fresh. Others have even tried imitating the squirrels and edible dormice in this area who store the nuts inside hollow trees wrapped up in moss but the most widely used technique (and the one that Natale used even he didn’t want to admit to it in public) was storing them in the deep freezer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETw1rJiwXEE

Then the door to the bar opens and in walks Elena bearing a large tray of freshly baked castagnaccio – the classic sweet dish from this area made from chestnut flour. (A recipe for castagnaccio can be seen here ) Her decision to cook and bring in castagnaccio was completely independent of the arrival of Natale with his mondine – one of those great coincidences which sometimes just work here.

Within minutes the party was on, the red wine was flowing and all helped along by the stirring accordion playing of Giuliano.

Nothing every “over organised” just happening.

As they are roasting for a large amount of people they have a different system for preparing them rather than using the more slower traditional padella -they instead use large metal cages which are turned slowly over the flames. As the cooking comes to an end they are turned faster and faster to knock out the burnt outer skin and leave just the cooked inner ready to be bagged up and given to the waiting crowds.

[View with PicLens]

Necci – the simplest of ingredients …. sweet chestnut flour, water and salt mixed into a thick paste and cooked between two hot plates over a flame. Two metal plates, the testi or cotte, are oiled and heated and the chestnut paste is poured onto one of the plates, the other is placed over the top so that the necci can be cooked from both sides. A stick to press down on the top plate and in seconds you have one of the tastiest foods in this area.  Add some ricotta and you have quite simply the Food of Gods. That is if you are not over a certain age and remember that chestnuts were the staple diet of the poor in this area without which they would have perished in time of famine.

The sporting association will be back next week end for a repeat performance … not to be missed.

lSAQTCn4yZ4

The humble sweet chestnut has been an important ingredient in the Mediterranean diet – Homer mentions them, and Pliny even says which kinds were grown in Southern Italy. With time their cultivation spread throughout the peninsula, because they were one of the few food crops that could be grown on steep mountain slopes, and also one of the few crops that could be expected to provide sustenance through the long winter months.

By the middle ages castagne were the staple food of the peasants in large parts of Italy. In this area it has been the saviour of many people who otherwise would have starved when times got really bad and the sweet chestnut flour is still known to this day in Garfagnana as “poor mans flour”

[View with PicLens]

There are many ways to prepare and eat chestnuts but one of the favourites in this area is Ballotte – the boiled chestnuts. Generally done with the first of the crop at the start of the season before they become too dry for ballotte and are instead used for the Mondine – the roast chestnuts (article here)

This afternoon one of the great characters of Barga Vecchia, Natale Bertolini  (article here) who is famous for his chestnut roasting technique (article here) turned up at Aristodemo’s bar with a basket full of still steaming freshly boiled ballotte.

Within minutes the party was on, the red wine was flowing and all helped along, as usual,  by the accordion playing of Giuliano

It should only be a matter of days before the first Mondine – the roasting on open fires out in the piaaza will be upon us (article here)

castagne – chestnuts
1. Low in fat, low in oil, cholesterol free.
2. Calories from Carbohydrates instead fat.
3. Excellent Protein and dietary fibre.
4. Contain significant Vitamin which Strengthens immune system, build energy, improve digest system and metabolising function.
5. Strengthens kidney function and good for liver, lung,stomach and promotes urination.