Old chestnuts

[claxton]

I've got some chestnuts left over from Xmas that I never got round to cooking. What's the best way of roasting them? I've heard if you're not careful they blow up and pebbledash the inside of your oven. I'd prefer it if that didn't happen.

[Lindylou]

Make sure you 'nick' the chestnut before you roast them, either in the oven or, as when I was a child, in a tin on our open coal fire. Ahh! Memories!!

[rogerthomas]

Not that old chestnut again.

[WendyS]

If they've been kept in a warm room I'd slice one or two open first to see if they're still worth eating as they dry up terribly quickly and become like hard rocks. If you want a quick way of cooking them, nick the outer skin and give them 3 or 4 minutes on a medium microwave setting. Whatever you do, make sure you give the outer skin a good slash first. If you don't they'll blow up and the microwave will be smothered with minute granules which will take years to remove. (Trust me - I've been there !!) It will also sound as if you've been hit by a nuclear explosion !