Sprouts with confit goose, chestnuts and pancetta

  • Side
  • 4-6
  • 40 minutes
Not yet rated

We're always looking for ways to spruce up sprouts at Christmas, but this recipe has to be the best (and most luxurious!) yet. The polarising green spheres are simply boiled and then tossed in a combination of chestnuts, confit goose leg meat and pancetta, with a sprinkling of crispy goose skin to finish. They taste like heaven, and there's no better dish to convert a staunch sprout-hater.

This recipe is part of Charlie's Christmas dinner, which celebrates and uses every part of the goose. Take a look at the full recipe here.

First published in 2020

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Method

1
Preheat an oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4. Place a large pot of water over a high heat, season generously with salt and bring to the boil
2
Meanwhile, render and brown the pancetta in a deep frying pan over a medium heat until crisp. Remove from the heat and set aside until ready to finish cooking the dish
3
Cook the sprouts in the boiling water for 6 minutes, then drain and cool with running cold water to prevent them from continuing to cook. Set aside
  • 400g of sprouts, trimmed and halved
4
Place an ovenproof pan over a medium heat and put the goose legs in, skin-side down. Allow to brown slightly for 2 minutes, then transfer to the oven for 10 minutes, crisping the skin
5
Remove the goose legs the oven and allow to cool until they can be handled. Beware of the hot fat immediately after the legs come out. Pull the leg meat from the bones and chop up the crispy skin into a crumb. Set both aside separately
6
You now have all the elements ready to finish cooking the dish, so get the rest of your dinner very nearly ready to serve before continuing onto the next step
7
When you are ready to serve the rest of the meal, place the pan with the pancetta and pancetta fat over a medium heat and throw in the goose meat, chestnuts and cooled sprouts. Toss well and keep on the heat for a couple of minutes to warm through and ensure everything is well combined
8
Season to taste, add in the lemon juice and parsley and serve with the crispy skin sprinkled on top

After learning the culinary ropes at Jeremy Lee's legendary Quo Vadis in London, Charlie Hibbert now heads up the beautiful Ox Barn restaurant at Thyme, a vast country retreat with beautiful homegrown produce on the doorstep.

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