Fig and chestnut stuffing

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Sally Abé shares her recipe for fig and chestnut stuffing – a delicious alternative to traditional stuffing and the perfect accompaniment to roast turkey for Christmas, chicken, pork or other roasts.

First published in 2015

Growing up, the only stuffing served at Christmas in our house was Paxo sage and onion (just add boiling water). It wasn’t until many years later, when hosting Christmas myself that I discovered how delicious it can be when made from scratch, and really easy too! The obvious choice of fruit to add is cranberry, but I feel that figs work even better and add a lovely sweetness to the chestnuts. I would also consider adding sausage meat, however, my long suffering vegetarian mum deserves a chance to try this! You could use this stuffing to stuff your turkey but for me it’s all about the crispy bits on top of the tray.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Method

1
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
2
Heat a frying pan over a medium heat with 25g of the butter and sweat down the shallots and mushrooms with the thyme until softened but not coloured. Season with salt and pepper
3
Add the chestnuts and figs, cook for a further 5 minutes then add the stock and bring to the boil
4
Melt the remaining butter and mix through the breadcrumbs in a large bowl
5
Add the chestnut mixture to the breadcrumbs and mix well
6
Grease a baking dish with butter and press in the mixture – the mixture should be about 2cm deep, I used a 20x30cm dish
7
Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is lovely and crispy
First published in 2015

After a five-year stint in the kitchen at two Michelin-starred restaurant The Ledbury, Sally is now head chef at The Harwood Arms in London.

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