Sweet chestnuts

Thinking that the fungi season would be up and running by now, I've been out skulking in the woods with my basket, only to be disappointed.

However a mammoth find of sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa) was an unexpected bonus. I've collected about 3 Kg, which I've stored in a cool, dampish corner to delay the shrivelling process. Historically chestnuts were an important food crop throughout much of southern Europe, having spread westwards from Asia Minor most likely with the Romans. In some places they still are: on Corsica I've sampled chestnut bread, cakes, liqueur and even beer.

I normally don't bother with these in the UK, since mostly they're too small to be worth the effort of scoring and peeling. However this year, they're swollen and plump. I cut a small cross on the curved side with a sharp knife, shove them in an old colander and roast them on the embers of the wood-burning stove for 20 minutes or so. Delicious.

Pizza

Truly poverty-spec food, this. Personally I resent paying £5+ for supermarket pizza - albeit hand-crafted by virgins over ley lines - when I can make better myself for a quarter of the cost.

The dough (based on Jamie Oliver's recipe)

Ingredients (makes 3 pizza bases for two):

500g strong white bread flour or Tipo ‘00’ flour
1/2 level tablespoon fine sea salt
1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast
1/2 tablespoon golden caster sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
325ml lukewarm water

Method:

Sieve the flour and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough, adding a dusting more of flour if the dough is too sticky.

Place the ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size. Then, remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required.

If using straight away, roll out the dough with a flour-dusted rolling pin. Then, add toppings: some of my favourites are mushrooms, goat's cheese, salami and red onions. Top this off with grated mozzarella and parmesan, and sling the whole thing into a hot oven for 10 minutes. Eat. Enjoy.

European Peasant Cookery

A great book for the parsimonious: Elisabeth Luard's bible of kitchen thrift derives from traditions where the only part of an animal that's ever wasted is the moo / oink / squawk.

It also ticks the 'seasonal' and 'local' food boxes for those who are concerned about such things, since the essence of peasant cooking is making the best use of whatever ingredients are to hand.