For the chestnuts...
If you went for a walk and gathered some, microwave them in batches of 15 or 20 to remove the first skin very easily. Then cook them for a good thirty minutes in boiling water. You’ll remove the second skin and crumble them for the recipe.
Second scenario (the more likely one), you didn’t go for a walk, or not in a chestnut grove… fall back on vacuum-packed, jarred or frozen chestnuts.
When I don’t have fresh ones, I buy the ones from Picard (our French frozen-food shop)… the only snag is that you only find them around Christmas… so you have to stock up at that point with nearly a year’s supply…. but with time, you get the amount about right.
