Christmas

Food bloggers record their recipes for a variety of reasons – sometimes we’ve learnt something that we’d like to share with others, for example the correct range to maintain a gel for Meat Fruit – and on other occasions it really is just a gigantic aide-mémoire!  The more mundane recipes on my blog are in reality the ones I use the most – they make their way onto here so that no matter where I am, I can turn to them time and again…

I realise that Christmas has long since passed, but the reality is that if I don’t write down my recipes, in the fashion of Mr Slater, they’d just disappear from memory! This year I made up a new stuffing recipe, heavy on the dried fruit, and heavy on the pain d’épices spice I’d just acquired.  It was definitely the nicest I’d made to date, and was even nicer in sandwiches!  It remained moist and flavourful, and was being sought out amongst the other leftovers…  So.  I apologise if it’s another 50 weeks until Christmas – I’ll just have to remember that I’ve recorded it on here when the festivities come around again!

Ingredients

900g good quality sausage meat
1tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper
1tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon Thiercelin Pain d’épices spice
100g dried cherries
250g dried chopped apricots
100g dried cranberries
50g butter

Method

• I put everything into my kitchen aid bowl, and beat for five minutes.  I wanted the larger pieces of dried fruit to break down a little.
• Bake in a large shallow baking tray – I used a half sized disposable foil container, which gave me a depth of about 1 inch
• Bake in a hot oven for around 1/2 hour until the top is golden and crusty – I used a thermometer to check the temperature was 60ºC for pork
• If you have time, turn the stuffing over and pop back into the oven for a further 10 minutes to crisp up the other side too
• Slice into wedges or cut into cubes

Yes. Perhaps not the most flattering of pics, but trust me – it tastes yummy!