A delicious 20 minute roasted chestnut recipe that can be made on an electric or gas stovetop using a cast iron skillet or standard pan.
Score your chestnuts. See pictures and instructions further up in article.
Turn temperature on stove burner to medium heat (5 on our stove). Place all ingredients in pan with lid on.
Cook covered for 10 minutes, shaking pan every minute, so nuts cook evenly and don't cook to much on one spot. The water also helps ensure even heating by steaming/boiling them and preventing them from drying out too much.
At the end of the initial 10 minutes cooking with the lid on, the water will boil out/evaporate, and the inside of your pan will start getting a bit smoky. The nut shells will start to get a bit charred which creates the slight smoke, replicating the smoky flavor of an open fire! Shake the pan constantly at this point to keep things from getting too smoky or setting off your indoor fire alarms.
Uncover pan. Stir nuts and/or shake pan constantly while uncovered on heating element for 2 minutes.
Remove pan from heat, and place lid back on pan. Let nuts cool for 5 minutes with lid on. The nuts will continue to slowly cook as they cool down as long as the lid stays on. The lid also helps trap some of the moisture.
After 5 minutes, remove lid and let the chestnuts cool down to eating temperature. You can even serve them in the cast iron skillet you cooked them in for a unique presentation.
Another alternative is to let the nuts cool down, then remove them from their shells before serving. However, in our opinion that's not quite as authentic to the original roasted chestnuts of yore, which were served shells-on. Plus, serving the chestnuts shells-on makes for a more involved dining experience by forcing those eating them to slow down and talk, rather than wolfing them down.
Cast iron pan-roasted chestnuts on a stovetop https://www.tyrantfarms.com/recipe-cast-iron-pan-roasted-chestnuts-on-a-stovetop/