24 December 2009

CHRISTMAS STUFFING & GLUTEN FREE STUFFING

Sorry it's been a while since the last entry - the post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas, current Hanukkah rush has taken up my spare moments.


Many people have commented on my turkey/stuffing entry.  Thanks for your enthusiasm.


Christmas is coming.  We currently have a broken oven at our house (I'm finding out how many recipes I can modify for a toaster oven!), so I wasn't planning much in the way of food.  However, now it looks like we will have a new stove, so I'm thinking about the turkey.


Yet another remnant of my many years in England is the British Christmas dinner.  This is turkey time in the British isles - or occasionally, a goose.  Christmas Day is the big 'meal' day - turkey with two stuffings, brussel sprouts, white sauce (a kind of mush of bread and milk), gravy, roast potatoes.  And for desert, the theme of dried fruit, fat and alcohol - steamed 'figgy' pudding (dried fruits, some bread crumbs, and suet or butter, drenched just before serving with brandy and lit on fire), Christmas cake (dried fruits, flour, eggs, butter baked in a cake in October or November, and then annointed weekly with whiskey), mince pies (dried fruit, alcohol and fat placed in individual pie crusts and baked, served with brandy butter, an incredible mix of butter, sugar and brandy).  If lighter desert fare is desired, there is trifle - sponge cake soaked with sherry, fresh (not dried) fruit, custard and whipped cream!


I have been known to cook this meal single-handedly (with help from family members, of course).  This year, I have limited the desert options - we will have only mince pies and trifle.  If I don't feel like cooking on Christmas day, I won't (my local Chinese restaurant is open, and that sounds good to me).  I'll leave it until sometime later in the week.  But the turkey will have two stuffings.


In honor of that, here are a couple more stuffing recipes.  Please refer to the Thanksgiving entry for the most important sausage stuffing recipe.


Remember - stuffings are not an exact science.  All quantities are approximate - you really want to look at the mixture - is it too dry or too moist, is there enough bread or too much bread, are there enough flavorings.  And go with your mood.  I made my sausage recipe the other day (see previous post).  It was  going in lamb, so I wanted to lighten it up.  I added the zest of an entire lemon, and some lemon juice, and lots of rosemary - amazing!


CHESTNUT STUFFING
The most difficult/tedious part of this recipe is preparing the chestnuts.  You will need at least 12 chestnuts (I sometimes use up to double) and they need to be cooked and peeled.  You can bake them (slice an x on the flat side of the chestnut with a sharp knife, place on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through) and peel them.  Or you can boil them - slice off the top, place them in boiling water for 10 minutes, peel them, and then simmer them in stock or water for about 30 minutes. I have to confess - I hate this part.  Chestnuts are not very reliable here in Colorado - I often get them home from the store to find them dry or rotten inside.  If at all possible, I buy pre-cooked, pre-peeled chestnuts - they are sometimes frozen, sometimes in a vacuum pack bag, sometimes in a jar.  These save me so much time (even if the do cost a fortune) and have plenty of taste.  Don't bother with the canned ones - these are very mushy and have no taste.


Once you have your chestnuts, the rest is easy.


12 or more chestnuts, cooked, peeled and chopped into small-ish pieces
1 oz/2T  butter (more if needed)
1 turkey liver, chopped into very small pieces
4 oz fresh white breadcrumbs (see sausage stuffing blog)
4 sprigs parsley, chopped fine
small onion, chopped fine
orange zest (optional but nice)
stock or orange juice
salt and pepper.


Melt the butter on medium-low heat. Gently fry onion then add the the turkey liver and fry until brown.  Place in a bowl.  Add all the ingredients except the stock, and gently mix.  Then add a small amount of stock or juice until just slightly moist.  That's it.  As with all stuffings, place it in the bird just before cooking.  This makes a small amount of stuffing - in our family, it's placed in the front of the bird, with the sausage stuffing in the main cavity.  


GLUTEN FREE STUFFING


A few people have asked about gluten free stuffing.  I suppose any of these recipes could be modified and made with gluten free bread.  However, my experience with this bread is that it's too soft - not enough crumb - to hold a decent texture and absorb juices.  


I prefer to use a grain option, my favorite being basmati rice.  The grain should be cooked, and then mixed with the rest of the stuffing ingredients.


There are many ways of cooking rice, but this is my preferred method for stuffing and pilaf: to cook the basmati rice: place it in a large bowl of cold water.  Stir gently with your fingers - the water will become slightly cloudy.  Then drain out most of the cloudy water.  Add fresh water.  Repeat this process until the water is clear.  Then drain the rice.  Meanwhile, fill a large pot with water and a little salt.  Bring to a boil.  Sprinkle in the rice, and stir gently.  Bring back to boil.  Start tasting rice after 3 minutes.  Cook 3-5 minutes, until just barely tender.  Drain, and rinse, and let dry until needed for use.


I like to use the rice in the apricot/almond stuffing:


GLUTEN FREE ALMOND/APRICOT STUFFING
2 C dried apricots
1 onion, chopped
2 oz butter
1/2 C chopped almonds
1 C raisins or chopped dates
1 1/2 C basmati rice
1 t grated orange rind
1 t allspice
1 t brown sugar
salt & pepper
2 T sherry


Cook rice according to above directions.
Soak apricots in water overnight.  Strain and chop
Fry onions in butter.
Add all the ingredients except rice and sherry.
Add enough rice for a good mix (you will probably have some left over)
Add sherry until just moist