Legend has it that the Greek army survived on their stores of chestnuts during their retreat from Asia Minor in 401 to 399 BCE. The Japanese began cultivating chestnuts even before they began growing rice.

In the Christian tradition, these starchy nuts are given to the poor as a symbol of sustenance on the Feast of Saint Martin and are also traditionally eaten on Saint Simon's Day in Tuscany. On the island of Corsica, where chestnuts feature prominently in the everyday cuisine, an old tradition says to prepare 22 different dishes from chestnuts to serve at a wedding feast.

Chestnuts remain an important food crop in China, Japan, and Southern Europe, where they are often ground into meal for breadmaking, thus giving rise to the nickname of ‘bread tree’.

Tagliatella comes from the verb ‘tagliare’ which means to cut. There is a fable in which Giovanni II of Bentivoglio asked the court chef Mastro Zefirano to prepare a special recipe, on the occasion of the passage of Lucrezia Borgia, who was going to Ferrara for her wedding with Duke Alfonso d’Este. In homage to her beautiful golden hair, he prepared a new type of pasta, cutting the traditional lasagna into long golden strips.

The creamy chestnuts and the fresh pesto compliment the soft and silky strands of pasta. #GoldenApron23