File this one under Fall

I've been waiting an entire year to tell you about this.

It would have been sooner but by the time I was back to the blogging of things, last January, it already seemed as if Spring was striding forward. And this recipe should definitely be filed under Fall. 

I think we're back there now. When the sun finally manages to roust itself out of bed at 7:46 am (sixteen minutes later than ME!) it sparkles upon frost, not dew. The once-towering corn that lined my way to work has been shorn to yield fields of bare brown and stubble. A haze of mist hangs over the hillocks that blaze with orange dropping leaves. And a dusting of snow, like icing sugar, powders the topmost tip of Mt. Cheam and crisps the valley air. October, you make me feel a bit older and, though hardly octogenarian, wiser too.

Ahem. Where was I? Right, the recipe worth waiting for. (Even though you didn't even know you were). It was about a year ago, during Italy week in culinary school, and we were making gnocchi. Out of all the tips and tricks bestowed upon us my favourite was using a bit of chestnut flour in the production. So, when I had some leftovers to bring home my first thought was to eat them with the chestnuts I had, already handily shelled and waiting, vacuum-packed, in the fridge. But, as I was flipping through a tome of a cookbook that had been dug out of the library for our perusal, the plot thickened. I came across a description of a gnocchi dish with chestnuts and prunes. Now, I don't know about you, but I love me some prunes. I was sold.

Home I went where I browned up my gnocchi in lots of butter, tossed in a few chopped chestnuts, some slivered prunes and, just for colour, a bit of parsley. Bam. Boom. You better believe you'll fall for it!