Recipes for Cancer Patients by the Fundacio Alicia: Chestnut Confit with hot sweet potato foam

For details on this series on a diet for cancer patients please see here

Chestnut Confit with hot sweet potato foam

This dish is specially for loss of appetite, people with altered sense of taste and loss of appetite. It’s a dish that is high in calories and can also be eaten cold

Serves 4

For the sweet potato foam:

2 medium sized sweet potatoes

100 ml of the cooking water

3 soup spoons of olive oil

100 ml of double cream

Sugar

For the chesnut confit

1/2 kg of  peeled and cooked chestnuts

250 g butter

To make chestnut confit

• make sure there is no skin at all on the chestnuts
• melt the butter in a pan on a medium heat and add the peeled chestnuts
• turn the heat on the pan right down and leave the chesnuts to confit (not fry) for an hour until they are really tender
• Drain the chestnuts and cut into quarters

For the sweet potato foam

• Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into small pieces and boil them in a little water until they are tender, about 10 mins
• Drain and reserve the cooking water
• Using a food processor or hand blender blend the sweet potato with 100ml of the cooking water and 100ml of double cream until you have a smooth puree
• Add 3 soup spoons full of olive oil and sweeten the puree with sugar to taste
• Press the mixture through a fine sieve then put in a syphon. Close and charge with CO2, shake well and put to heat in a bain marie
• If you don’t have a syphon: Make the puree with the sweet potato and the cooking water and in a separate bowl whip the cream until it is semi stiff. Mix the puree with the whipped cream very carefully so that the cream doesn’t deflate

To Serve

Put at the bottom of a dessert cup some chestnuts and then fill the rest of the cup with the hot foam or mousse