What I Ate Today

Chestnuts are piled high on the fruit and veg stands of supermarkets in the run up to Christmas.  They have an association with Christmas fayre and are surprisingly simple to transform into a great home made stuffing.  It’s true they can be a bit fiddly to peel, but worth it for a special meal. I’m planning an Easter variation of this stuffing, and might have to suffice with vacuum packed chestnuts.

Put ‘Chestnut Stuffing’ into Google and the first result is from Delia Online resurrecting an 18th Century recipe and advocating those traditional 18th century vacuum packed chestnuts.  Having already invested in 2 for 1 fresh chestnuts, this was an instant turn off.  Hit number two on Google was a ‘Classic Chestnut stuffing recipe’ from Waitrose.

With the Waitrose recipe as a starting point, it felt appropriate to throw in a few extra ‘Christmassy’ ingredients to add a little more excitement to the recipe.  The basic recipe is available on the Waitrose Website or the What I Ate Today variation is below:

• 3 large shallots,
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic
• 110g (4oz) streaky bacon
• 55g (2oz) butter
• 400g (14oz) chestnuts, peeled whole and roughly crumbled
• 170g (6oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
• Juice and zest of 2 lemons
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 100g dried cranberries
• 100-150ml of traditional dry Cider (more if the mix is dry)

The first few times I made this recipe, to prepare the chestnuts, I used a small, sharp paring knife and made a cross on the pointed end of each chestnut.  I then dropped them into a pan of cold water on the hob and turned up the heat.  bring to boil and then simmer for 10-15 mins.  I’ve now found a fantastic quick way of prepping the chestnuts – check here for details and a video demonstration.  Chop whole chestnut in half – boil hard for 2 minutes and pince the skin with pliers to pop out the nut.

The chestnuts will swell and start to split.  While the chestnuts are simmering, it’s a good opportunity to prepare the remaining ingredients:

• peel and dice the shallots,
• crush the garlic
• chop the bacon into 1cm squares
• make the breadcrumbs (blitz bread in food processor)
• chop the herbs

Its a good idea to let the chestnuts cool a bit before you start peeling.  This method makes the chestnuts go soft (not a problem for the stuffing) and it is possible to actually squeeze the flesh out or to peel the outside off with your fingers.  Roughly chop any larger pieces, leaving them a bit larger for texture.  It does take a little time, but patience is a virtue and since you only need some of the cider for the recipe, you can open up the cider and enjoy some (not all) while you peel!

The remaining steps are simple and quick.

• Fry the bacon and onion in the oil until golden, then add the garlic butter and peeled chestnuts and fry for 2 more minutes.
• Add everything else except the cider.  The Waitrose recipe called for juice of one lemon; I added the second to counteract the sweetness of the cranberries which I added.
• Finally, add cider little by little until the mix stops being a dry, friable mix and begins to clump together a little.

Don’t saturate the mixture as you want the mix to be dry enough to absorb some of the juices from the meat when you cook it.   I usually about 100-150ml of dry cider – I avoid sweet cider as the dried cranberries are already sweet.

The stuffing works really well stuffed inside a roasted pheasant (pheasants seem to love chestnuts) and takes on a really moist, meaty flavour.  Stuffing rolled into small balls and baked around the meat tends to be lighter, drier and crisper, but still delicious.  If you plan to use the meat juices for gravy/sauce, don’t add too much stuffing around the meat or it may all be absorbed.

Having seen how simple and relatively quick it is to make stuffing like this, I’m a convert – the chestnuts add a sweetness and smoothness which made the effort worthwhile.  Reflecting upon this recipe,  I realised that I really enjoyed the time spent together in the kitchen peeling chestnuts, drinking cider and chatting with the people helping me.  I am assured that you can’t tell the difference between fresh and vacuum packed chestnuts.  If you really cant spare time to prep the chestnuts, use ready prepared chestnuts and enjoy all the other lovely fresh flavours in this recipe!  When its not Christmas time, other variations may be fun to try, such as the Easter variation below.  If you fancy making a vegetarian version, drop out the bacon and add a little more butter to replace the lost fat.  When fresh chestnuts aren’t available, why not give it a go with ready prepared ones.

Easter Variation

My family traditionally eat roast lamb on Easter Sunday, so I  will adapt this recipe to be more suited to lamb.  To do this, I will drop out 1 lemon, the sage, parsley, cranberries and cider.  In will come more garlic, more rosemary and some port or red wine.  The ingredients being:

• 3 large shallots,
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 large clove garlic
• 110g (4oz) streaky bacon
• 55g (2oz) butter
• 400g (14oz) chestnuts, peeled whole and roughly crumbled
• 170g (6oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 100-150ml red wine or port (more if the mix is very dry)

Make the stuffing in exactly the same way as before, just using the Easter version ingredients.  At Easter time, you may have to use vacuum packed or tinned chestnuts.