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TURKEY STUFFED WITH CHESTNUTS
Turkey stuffed with Chestnuts is a traditional main course for Christmas.
This recipe is a bit long but not too difficult... it is worth it
!
Serves 8 persons Prep' time 1 hour - Cooking time 2 hours
Ingredients : 1 turkey of around 3 kg [6 to 7 lbs] ready to cook
/
100 gr [3.5 oz] pork meat (ideally boned loin) / 100 gr [3.5 oz]
veal meat
(preferably tenderloin) / 100 gr [3.5 oz] bacon / 300 gr [10.5 oz]
natural
chestnuts (entire and peeled !) / 100 gr [3.5 oz] unsalted butter
/
2 eggs / 2 shallots / 1.5 liter [3 pints] chicken broth / salt and
pepper.
- Peel and mince the shallots
- Blend the pork and veal meats and the bacon together (if you could
keep the turkey's lever, clean and nerve it, and add it too).
Put the ground meat in a salad bowl.
- Boil the chestnuts for 2 minutes then strain them carefully ;
crush
them into a purée with a fork. Add them to the meat.
- Melt 20 gr [1/2 oz] butter in a pan and fry the shallots for a
few
minutes ; add it all to the forcemeat and add the eggs, salt and
pepper
as well. If you have a bit of ground truffle, add it.
Mix everything together so that it becomes homogeneous.
- Put the forcemeat inside the turkey ; if you have too much, put
the leftover into buttered ramekins.
- Butter a big oven dish and put the turkey in. Season it with salt
and pepper then spread it with soft butter. Cover it with a tin
foil
and place the dish in the (cold) oven. Turn the oven on to 180°C
/
350°F and bake the turkey for at least 2 hours and baste it regularly
;
take the tinfoil off after 1 hour (so that it will not get too brown).
When it is ready, put it in the service dish and keep it hot while
you
prepare the sauce. Bake the extra forcemeat in the ramekins for
the last half hour.
- Take away the cooking grease surplus from the oven dish, then
pour
the hot broth in and scratch the bottom with a fork to dissolve.
Pour the broth through a thin strainer into a saucepan and get it
to
simmer for a few minutes ; add 50 gr [2 oz] butter little piece
after
little piece, and turn with a whisk. Pour the sauce into a saucer
and
serve it with the turkey.
- To serve the turkey, cut it into pieces and slice the forcemeat.
This can be served with some extra chestnuts, baked apples, lettuce
or potatoes... ideally all of them ! Serve with the extra forcemeat
if you wish so.
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