Thread: Best Ever Chestnut Stuffing - Totally off plan!!!

CHESTNUT STUFFING

This is the best ever stuffing for Xmas that you will find.
Totally NOT SW friendly but . . . hey it's Christmas.

Ingredients
1 lb sausage meat - the best you can find
8 oz streaky bacon - rind removed and chopped into small lardons
2 small onions (or 1 very large one)- finely chopped
1 large egg - beaten
2 level tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley (optional)
Grated zest of a lemon (optional)
Fresh white breadcrumbs - about 4 oz but you need to suck it and see! (do them in your food processor first!!)
Salt & Pepper
435g tin SAVOURY Chestnut puree - chopped into about 1" cubes
. . I use the one made by Merchant Gourmet available from Sainsburys. Take care - there are 2 types, savoury and sweet (for puddings) and I made the mistake of using the sweet one once and it ruined the stuffing!

Method
1. Fry the bacon without any extra fat for about 2 minutes
2. Add the onions to the pan and cook for another 2-3 minutes until just going transparent
3. Put sausage meat, chestnut puree chunks plus bacon and onions into a food processor and mix up really well.
You may have to do in 2 halves if you only have a small processor like me
4. Put the mixture into a large mixing bowl (and mix together if you've had to do in 2 halves) and add the beaten egg.
5. Finally mix in the breadcrumbs until you have a non runny consistency. You may need slightly more of less than 4 oz - it varies every time I do it depending on how watery the sausage meat and bacon was.
6. You can add freshly chopped parsley if you want - to be honest I don't normally bother.
7. You can also add the zest of a lemon if you want a bit of zing - again I don't normally bother.

Cooking
I normally divide the mix into 4 small tinfoil dishes and just cook 2 for Christmas day.
Cook at 180c (fan over) or 200c (convection oven) for 30 minutes covered and 30 minutes uncovered.

The other 2 containers can be put into plastic bags and frozen - the stuffing freezes well and we have it as a special treat with a roast chicken!

It is also absolutely FANTASTIC cold and used as a paté on toast for Boxing day breakfast or lunch!
Or even on Christmas night as a snack - that is if you have any left over!

I have modified the original recipe over the years - I now use far more sausage meat than the origonal recipe but it makes it much better.
The original recipe also says you can stuff the turkey body cavity with all the stuffing - but I have never done this.

ENJOY!!!!

Sounds good, gonna try it. Thanks