Name: Filled with flavour! The Christmas apricot & chestnut stuffing recipe to die for
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 6-8
Ingredients: Large knob of butter; 1 onion, chopped; 85g/3oz dried apricots, chopped; 200g/7oz fresh chestnuts, roasted, peeled and chopped; 140g/5oz fresh breadcrumbs; 250g/9oz good-quality pork sausagemeat; about 3 tbsp chopped sage (or you can use dried); 2 tbsp port; salt and freshly ground white peppercorns

Filled with flavour! The Christmas apricot & chestnut stuffing recipe to die for

Try this twist on traditional Christmas stuffing

Serves 6-8

Prep

30M

Cook

40M

Total

1H 10M

This Christmas apricot & chestnut stuffing takes a fun and interesting twist on traditional stuffing recipes to brighten up Christmas.

Ingredients

Large knob of butter

1 onion, chopped

85g/3oz dried apricots, chopped

200g/7oz fresh chestnuts, roasted, peeled and chopped

140g/5oz fresh breadcrumbs

250g/9oz good-quality pork sausagemeat

about 3 tbsp chopped sage (or you can use dried)

2 tbsp port

salt and freshly ground white peppercorns

Method

Melt the butter in a frying pan and soften the onion over a medium low heat for about 10 mins. It should be pale and soft, not coloured at all. (Alternatively, you can soften a whole onion in a pan with the giblets if you are making gravy stock, and then chop.)

Let the onion cool for a while, then spoon into a bowl and gradually mix in the remaining ingredients. (Oh another thing – do use fresh roasted chestnuts. I know they’re a faff to peel, but they are the best, and anyway it’s a good sitting-down job that the kids can do.)

Take a tiny teaspoonful of the mix and fry off for about 3-4 mins. Taste this and adjust your seasoning. Now you can either stuff your bird as I suggest, or press the stuffing into a buttered shallow dish, cover loosely with foil and bake at 190C/fan 170C/ gas 5 for 35-40 mins

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Barbara Northwood

Barbara, former Food Director, has over 38 years experience in the food industry, loves sharing advice, recipes and know-how on everything food. She’s a passionate gardener and being to grow fresh herbs, lemons and rhubarb and more, gives her great satisfaction.