By luck, and a little bit of planning, the night of our October recipe club dinner fell on Canadian Thanksgiving. So, the theme was a given.
While part of the fun of a Thanksgiving theme is over-the-top food (marshmallows in main course and all that), the dish I cooked that I’m going to keep in the repertoire is this fantastic stuffing that I found at Allrecipes.com. Below is my slightly modified version of it.
Ingredients
100g butter
1/4 cup Dijon (French) mustard
1 large onion
2 sticks celery (enough to make ~1 cup when chopped)
110g sliced water chestnuts (e.g. from a can)
1/2 cup crumbed walnuts
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper
3 cups dried bread crumbs (~300g)
200mL of chicken stock
Method
Finely chop the onion and celery.
Melt the butter and mustard together in a large saucepan, and when combined, add the onion and celery.
Cook until onion is softened, then stir in water chestnuts, walnuts, thyme, and pepper & salt to taste.
Mix in the breadcrumbs until thoroughly combined.
You can pause at this point if you wish, and place the mix in an airtight container in the fridge overnight. This enables you to make this part in advance. The last stage can be combined with removing a turkey from the oven to rest.
Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Add chicken stock to the mixture and stir through. It will begin clumping together.
Spread on a baking tray and cook in oven for 20 – 30 mins, until crust begins to dry. Then, remove from oven and serve.
Makes approx 1.5L or enough for 10 adults.