I never used to make homemade stuffing. When i used to eat gluten as a wee kid, i would buy the Paxo Boxes and create this sticky mush with my mum and cook it separately in a oven dish to go alongside the Turkey at Christmas. It was never an every-week thing. Just at Christmas.
Lately i have been thinking this is a shame. After attempting a couple of homemade recipes over the past week, it’s no harder than making a salsa. Just a bit of chopping and mixing. If you have a food processor there really is no excuse.
Stuffing can really add so many great flavours to a Chicken, but as Nigel Slater has mentioned in the past, you shouldn’t need to add anything to a Chicken before putting it in the oven. The meat cooks itself and the flavour is sometimes just as good as one greased in butter and oil. This stuffing just adds a bit of luxury.
Here is a stuffing recipe with the potential to be no gluten, no egg, no dairy, so i hope everyone can enjoy this at Christmas dinner, or indeed, for any Sunday Lunch roast.
Wuthering Bites’ Gluten Free Sage, Pork, Apple and Onion Stuffing.
Serves 4 for a Medium sized Chicken. Or 2 for a small Chicken with some extra on the side.
2 Slices of Gluten Free Bread (I used Genius White Sandwich loaf)*
½ a White Onion
4 Sage Leaves
2 Gluten Free Sausages taken out of their skins (I used Sainsbury’s Pork and Apple)* or 2 heaped tablespoons of GF Sausage meat.
Quarter of a medium sized Cox apple**
3 Teaspoons of Olive Oil
Sea Salt and Pepper
*For Egg Free, Dairy Free- check the type of Bread and Sausages/Sausagemeat you use.
**If using sausages without apple in already, use a half of an Apple instead of a quarter.
If you have a food processor this is rather easy, cut all the solid ingredients into reasonable sized chunks and blitz together.
Add the Olive Oil and pulse until it’s a good consistency, you don’t want this to be too dry or too runny so add tiny bits until you think it’s right.
Season well with salt and a little pepper. The salt will help your chicken skin go crispy!
You can roll these into balls and cook for 30mins on a 180 degree heat alongside your chicken, or do what I did and carefully tuck your fingers under the skin near the breast of a chicken or turkey slowly until you’ve formed a nice gap to put stuffing into. For chicken this should cook normally on a 180 degree heat for 60 or more dependent on size, check your guided times.
Back in the days when I didn’t have a food processor, I wouldn’t let it stop me! Simply commit to chopping everything as finely as possible and bring it together using your hands. In some ways it is a better idea to do it this way as you have more control over the texture.
Adapt if you wish and Enjoy 🙂
