This article appears in the Winter 2025 issue
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire conjures up all kinds of iconic images—warming fires, wintry scenes, and home-cooked holiday meals. For centuries the American chestnut tree flourished here, and provided wood and nourishment for indigenous people and settlers until it was obliterated by a bark fungus brought in on foreign plant material in the early 20th century. The tree was nearly extinct by the 1950s. Conservation efforts today are working to create a blight-resistant strain, and so the American chestnut tree is enjoying a modest comeback in the American landscape. After the blight, the nut remained popular in America and was imported from Europe.
The chestnut’s versatility has inspired recipes ranging from sweets to savories—candies and pastries to soups and stuffings. A candied sweet concoction known as the marron glace, created by Louis XIV (1638–1715), is still a specialty throughout France and Italy. Chestnuts and chestnut flour are still widely used in rural parts of Europe.
Popular as a stuffing ingredient, the chestnut in the following recipe is combined with apricots to create a sweet and savory stuffing for a pork loin. Cooking chestnuts can be a tedious project so you can always use canned or vacuum-sealed chestnuts as they are already cooked and peeled.
Roasting chestnuts in a special pan over an open fire. Photo by Getty Images/kabVisio.
Roast Loin of Pork Stuffed with
Chestnuts and Apricots
Serves 4
1 large loin of pork (1¼ pounds)
3 tablespoons light olive oil
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus 3 tablespoons
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1 cup chestnuts, cooked, peeled, and finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs (panko bread crumbs may be substituted but will change the texture slightly)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon mild curry powder
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butterfly the loin of pork and flatten with a meat mallet. Season well with salt and pepper.
Add olive oil and 3 tablespoons of the butter to a roasting pan and warm in the oven.
Beat the remaining butter to a creamy consistency, and add it to a bowl with the apricots, chestnuts, bread crumbs, egg, parsley, and curry powder. Combine thoroughly and add salt and pepper to taste.
Spread the mixture over the pork loin and rollup tightly lengthwise. Tie with string every few inches.
Place in the heated roasting pan and cook for 30 minutes until golden, turning the loin over halfway through. Let rest for five minutes and slice into one-inch-thick pieces.
Serve garnished with parsley, if desired, and with roasted butternut squash or sweet or new potatoes.
Melody Tierney is an avid foodie and enjoys sharing her passion with others. A former bed and breakfast owner in Southampton, New York, she and her husband, Phil, were featured as an Inn of the Month in Travel and Leisure magazine.