Normally, as I upload recipes for our Taste section on a Monday, I find myself mentally earmarking at least two for future reference - like last week's slow-cooked lamb for example, or the tomato soup with pesto cream.

Not this week. This week heavily features chestnuts, an ingredient I believe can only have been dreamt up by the devil.

Now, I quite like roasted chestnuts. But chestnuts in cooking are a whole other ball game.

I first discovered this when my mum was making some chocolate pudding of Delia's. The instructions called for a can of chestnut puree, the addition of which, Delia assured us, never failed to transform an ordinary chocolate dessert into the sublime.

She was as far from right as it's possible to be. It was HORRIBLE.

Then, last month, on my honeymoon, I had the misfortune to accidentally order a chocolate and chestnut confection. It too was hideous.

In fact, I'm hard-pressed to think of an ingredient I hate more. Kidney, maybe? Suggestions in the comments please!

And safe to say, I won't be making any of this week's chestnut recipes.

But if you do, and they're nice, come back and tell us, won't you?

And if you're like me, and you hate chestnuts, never fear. We've got two perfectly normal - in fact delicious sounding - recipes coming up on Thursday and Friday.