An Improv Nigella Applauds

My mother-in-law once suggested creating a cookbook about culinary success stories born of disaster (or necessity).

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Chestnut-Maple Cheesecake belongs in that camp. The original recipe I owe to my college-friend-turned-kitchen diva, Nigella Lawson. The revision I made is minor, but the result is a satisfying combination of flavors I associate with the British Christmases of my childhood and those of my adopted U.S. homeland.

When I decided to get into the spirit of the season by making Nigella's cheesecake, I could not find chestnut puree at my local Super Fresh. I bought the other ingredients nonetheless , figuring a fancier market such as Whole Foods would stock the characteristic green cans of France's Clément Faugier.

But no luck. Not this year, I was told; everyone is asking for it.

And so an opportunity was born.

The Faugier company's purée is essentially a mush of corn syrup, water and the broken pieces that didn't make into that Gallic yuletide delicacy, marrons glacés. So, with dreams of chestnut cheesecake still dancing in my head, I bought chestnuts and mushed them myself, substituting maple syrup for the traditional sweeteners.

You can find whole, prepared chestnuts without much difficulty. Or if you have the time and patience for shelling and peeling, you can buy them fresh and steam them -- or, er, roast them over an open fire.

I made my chestnut-maple mush in the food processor, which left small lumps of chestnut that lent a slightly nutty texture to the finished cheesecake. I won't say my cheesecake was better than Nigella's, though the blend of European and American flavors pleased my immigrant palate.

And I will say that from now on, I'll do it my way. When I told Nigella what I had done, she said she would try "the Sellers-Lawson recipe" herself. "And do say," she continued, "that how people add their own personal touch to recipes is what turns a cookbook into a conversation."

An occasional series in which staff members share a recipe we turn to time and time again.