Cranberry And Chestnut Stuffing

I love stuffing! I can’t get enough of the stuff, but most shop bought stuffing isn’t veggie friendly, so that’s why my homemade vegetarian cranberry and chestnut stuffing is always on the menu.

Packed with festive flavour it works well with any main but I’ll be having mine with my vegetarian nut roast on Christmas Day.

I’ve used bread in this recipe that was just starting to get to that stale feeling.

If you haven’t got any bread like that and you only have fresh, blitz it in a food processor and then dry fry for five to ten minutes to dry it out.

This recipe serves 8 people, but it really depends on how big you roll the stuffing balls.

Cranberry And Chestnut Stuffing Ingredients

• 80g dried cranberries
• 300g dried breadcrumbs
• 2 x 200g Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts finely chopped
• 25g butter
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped
• 25g fresh flat leaf parsley finely chopped
• 2 large eggs, beaten

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/GM 4.
2. Place the cranberries, breadcrumbs and chestnuts into a bowl and mix well together.
3. Heat the butter in a frying pan and cook the onion and the celery for 4-5 minutes until it’s soft.
4. Stir in the rosemary and cook for 1 minute and then let the mixture cool.
5. Tip the parsley into the cooled mixture and mix thoroughly.
6. Tip the parsley mixture into the breadcrumb mix.
7. Add the beaten eggs and 6-8 tbsps of cold water, mix well until you have a soft texture that comes together when pressed with your hands.
8. With damp hands, shape the mixture into 32 small balls and place on a lined baking tray.
9. Bake in the oven for about 12-15 minutes until golden and crunchy.

Enjoy!

So you fancy impressing your veggie friends this Christmas, this vegetarian cranberry and chestnut stuffing will do just that!