Herby, easy, tasty, vegetarian turkey stuffing
I wasn’t working today so had lovely time in kitchen getting ahead for Christmas. I put on a beef pot roast this morning in the slow cooker – Marks and Spencer has half-price beef joints and legs of lamb at the moment.
I also put on vegetarian chilli for various non-red meat eaters who will be here over Christmas – it freezes very well. You can see this chilli on the blog under ‘Main courses’.
And then I made the stuffing. I always make it a bit before Christmas and freeze it. It’s a godsend on Christmas week when so much is happening. This recipe is inspired by the one in Darina Allen’s ‘A Simply Delicious Christmas’. I still put stuffing into the turkey. It keeps it nice and moist – the stuffing must be completely cold before you stuff the bird.
Smoked salmon was half-price in SuperValu so I bought two sides, cut each into three and froze them. I will use them in a pasta sauce with cream and lemon for a quick dinner – or as substitutes for vegetarians.
I made double the quantity of stuffing that I give here. I divided the stuffing in two: to one half I added a little flour and an egg and mixed it thoroughly. Then I made it into small patties and put them on greaseproof paper on a tin and open froze them. Tomorrow I will put them in polythene bags. I will use these for the vegetarians when I am making meatballs. I also had a bit of salmon and mashed potato left over from last night; and made and froze fish cakes for the vegetarians.
Ingredients for herby stuffing (for a 10-12lb bird)
- 170g butter
- 340g chopped onions
- 800g fresh, white breadcrumbs
- 55g chopped, curly parsley
- Thyme leaves stripped from the twigs (about 1/2 a cup of stripped leaves).
How I do it
Cook the 340g onions in the 170g butter gently for about 10 minutes – the mixture will be quite sloppy. When it has cooled slightly, stir in the 55g parsley and half-cup of thyme leaves.
Stir in the 400g breadcrumbs - you may need to move the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Also add a little salt and pepper.
Mix all together well with a wooden spoon.
Put into plastic bags (squeezing all the air out) or put into plastic food boxes and freeze.
