Do you love roasted chestnuts and candied chestnuts? How about chocolate-covered chestnuts and chestnut soup?
If you like these Turkish chestnut recipes, here's one more to add to your collection of Turkish chestnut recipes. This time, it's a rich main course meal that's good enough for company and easy enough for busy days.
I'm talking about Turkish-style lamb and chestnut stew, or "kestane yahnisi" (kes-tahn-NAY' YAH'-nee-see). Different versions of this rich, satisfying stew are popular during the winter months in areas famous for good chestnuts like Bursa, just South of Istanbul, and around Kars and Erzurum in the far northeast of the country.
This recipe is cooked in the oven or over a fire in a clay cooker, Dutch oven or an electric crock pot. After several hours of slow cooking, you have a stew that's so rich and flavorful you don't need much else to complete the meal.
I like to serve it up with crusty bread and some salad. Add a roaring fire in the background and you have a cozy, satisfying winter meal with lots of authentic atmosphere.
What's more, this recipe is very easy to prepare. Just put all the ingredients in the cooker and let them stew slowly to perfection in their own juices until the lamb is tender and the chestnuts are soft.
Whether it's for company, or to feed your hungry family, try Turkish lamb and chestnut stew for a rustic meal Turkish-style.
Photo © Elizabeth Taviloglu, 2013