Chestnut Stuffing Roll and Cranberry Balls
Turkey Stuffing
Last week I did a stuffed turkey breast, but promised to actually post a stuffing recipe. Not just one but two stuffing recipes. Nowadays the stuffing doesn’t actually have to be stuffed inside the turkey and that opens up a whole array of possibilities. These two, chestnut stuffing and cranberry balls are two of my favorites. And they always make an appearance on my Christmas table. They are an even stronger pair together. Chestnuts, cranberry and chorizo make the perfect match. I will be posting more side dishes which will enrich your Holiday table. Be it Christmas or Thanksgiving we don’t discriminate.
Chestnut
I have already made some delicious desserts with chestnut, definitely check my paleo chestnut roll or Mont Blanc and Vesuvius cakes. But the time has come to flip it over to the savory side. Chestnuts are very versatile and used quite often during this period of the year. They are typically harvested from mid-September through November. And are an extremely popular roasted treat during the holidays. But chestnuts can also be boiled and braised. And chestnut flour can be used to bake bread. I’ll be adding more recipes with other methods in the coming weeks. And the chestnut stuffing roll is a great place to start.
Cranberry
Similar to chestnuts, cranberries are also harvested from mid-September through early November. Fresh cranberries are hard, sour and bitter at the same time. Most of the harvest will be processed into juice, jam, sauce or dried and sweetened to be sold. With a portion being sold fresh. Cranberry sauce is a must at any thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinner. I have used dried cranberries before in my nutty meatloaf. But for today’s recipe I used fresh cranberries to be paired with chorizo. I personally think that it is an amazing combination. And it’s the one dish everyone keeps coming back for. I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes.
Chestnut Stuffing Roll and Cranberry Balls
Ingredients
Chestnut Stuffing Roll
- 200 gram chestnuts cooked
- 100 gram hazelnut
- 100 gram almond flour blanched
- 2 onions finely cut
- 1 tbsp ghee or butter
- 10 gram sage leave shredded
- 2 large eggs
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper freshly ground
- 14 slices bacon
Cranberry Balls
- 400 gram Chorizo remove the skin
- 1 onion finely cut
- 1 tsp ghee or butter
- 100 gram almond flour blanched
- 100 gram cranberry fresh
- 1 tbsp psyllium husk
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1 handful parsley finely cut
Instructions
Chestnut Stuffing Roll
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Melt 1 tbsp ghee or butter in a frying pan, add the onion and sauté on medium low heat for 6-8 minutes, until soft. Don’t burn it!
- Add shredded sage leaves, stir and cook together for 1 minute. Then tip into large bowl.
- Put chestnut into food processor and pulse 1-2 minutes, until chopped into small bits. (The time depends on your food processor’s power.) Put into the large bowl with the onions.
- Repeat with the hazelnut.
- Put almond flour, nutmeg, beaten egg, salt and pepper to the large bowl too, and mix everything by hand.
- You need a 30cm x 50cm large sheet of foil. Lay the bacon slices in a row, overlapping a bit.
- Shape the stuffing in to a log on top of the bacon slices.
- Roll up the stuffing, it has to be completely wrapped in the bacon. Using the foil to help you.
- Wrap with extra foil and twist the ends to tighten and close. (If it’s not round enough, you can take extra rolls on the table now.)
- Put the wrapped stuffing roll into the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Turn up the heat to 200°C, unwrap the stuffing roll and bake for 30 minutes more, until crisp and golden brown.
- Keep warm until serving.
Cranberry Balls
- Preheat the oven 200°C.
- Melt the ghee or butter, add the onion and sauté on medium low heat for 6 minutes, until soft. Leave to cool.
- Chop chorizo and put into food processor and pulse, until falls apart into small pieces.
- Tip into large bowl.
- Add onion, almond flour, eggs, psyllium husk and parsley to the chorizo, mix them by hand. Salt is not necessary, because chorizo is salty enough.
- Add cranberry and mix very gently with your hand.
- Roll the mixture into 20 golf-ball sized balls and place on a baking tray.
- Bake the balls for 30 minutes, until golden brown.
- (My tip, when you make the chestnut stuffing roll, and turn up the heat to 200C for the second 30 minutes, you can place the balls next to the roll and bake them together.)