First Courses Main Courses Desserts Christmas Baking Veg and Veggie

Apricot and chestnut stuffing

Ingredients

  • 225g ready-to-eat dried apricots
  • 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
  • 225g fresh white breadcrumbs
  • 75g butter plus extra for greasing
  • 225g frozen chestnuts, thawed and roughly chopped
  • a generous bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

Apricot and chestnut stuffing

INTRODUCTION

This stuffing is cooked in a separate dish rather than inside the bird, so it becomes very crisp. It is really good with turkey, goose or chicken

INSTRUCTIONS

SERVES 6

Preheat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. You will need a shallow ovenproof dish, about 20cm x 28cm x 5cm.

  1. Chop the apricots into small pieces the size of raisins.

  2. Measure 600ml water into a pan, add the onion and apricot pieces, and boil for 5 minutes. Drain well.

  3. Put the breadcrumbs into a large bowl. Melt the measured butter in a nonstick frying pan, and pour half of it on to the breadcrumbs.

  4. Add the chestnuts to the remaining melted butter in the frying pan and brown lightly. Mix together with the apricots, onion, parsley and breadcrumbs. Season well with salt and pepper.

  5. Turn into a buttered ovenproof dish and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes until crisp.

  6. TIP Buy frozen chestnuts as soon as you see them in the supermarkets, as they sell out very quickly. Vacuum-packed ones, which are widely available, are a suitable alternative.

  7. PREPARING AHEAD Prepare to the end of stage 4. Cover and keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours before cooking. Cook as above but for a little longer. If preferred, cook the day before and reheat until piping hot on the day. You could also freeze it at the end of stage 4 for about 1 month.

  8. IN THE AGA Slide the dish on to the floor of the roasting oven for 25-30 minutes until crisp.

 

This recipe is taken from: Christmas Collection (Headline)