Roasted Chestnuts

Castagne arrostite

In this season, here, in South Italy we eat a lot of chestnuts.

This is the secret recipe of my mum:
The day before to roast the chestnuts, soak them. After inspecting and rinsing them, with a sharp knife, make an incision through each chestnut shell, just into the flesh of the nut. Then transfer them to a large bowl, cover with cold water and leave overnight. In the morning, rinse and drain.
Preheat your oven’s broiler to 390° F (200° C).
Place the chestnuts  into a baking pan and spread 1\2 glass of white or red wine on them. Broil the chestnuts about 3 inches (7–8 cm) from the heat for 20–25 minutes (depending on the kind and the size of the chestnuts). Take care to turn and mix them several times with a wooden spoon. At this point, taste the chestnuts to make sure they are cooked (when they are cooked they taste slightly sweet and have a buttery texture. Undercooked chestnuts  are hard and taste bitter). Serve the roasted chestnuts when they are still warm, so that your guest can peel and eat them as soon as they are cool enough to handle.