Stuff It!

I love Christmas. It’s a great time of year. I really enjoy giving gifts to friends and family and I love all of the parties and the food. It’s a lot about the food. There are certain things that I never eat all year but always eat at Christmas. This year I’m hosting Christmas and while it’s a little scary and maybe slightly anxiety inducing, I’m happy that it’s happening chez moi this year.

Every family has traditions and every family has a favourite stuffing. One year when we spent Christmas in England my sisters in law and I each made our favourite stuffing. It was interesting to see how different stuffing can be. What was also interesting to me was that mine didn’t win as the best one… shocking I know, but I chalk that up to them being British… different palates and all… Ok, maybe they just didn’t think that mine was good. But I happen to think it’s delicious.

This is my dad’s cousin’s recipe and it is the best stuffing I have ever eaten. It’s the perfect consistency and texture if you ask me. I’m going to share it with you now and I’d love for you to give it a chance, while it’s not all celery and sausage and it’s most certainly not out of a box, it’s my family’s favourite.

The Best Stuffing Ever

My family typically does not use measurements when cooking and everything is made to taste so feel free to add or omit. I have added measurements here, in attempt to make it easier for you.

I like to use an ovenproof pot… it makes this a one-pot addition to your menu (less washing up for me).

Here’s what you need:

1 TBS Olive Oil
1 Onion  – diced
1 Garlic clove – diced
1 chicken breast cut small
6 strips of bacon cut small
Gizzards from inside your turkey – chopped up
1 cup strained tomatoes (from a jar)
4 cups of chicken stock
2 hard boiled eggs – chopped
2 containers of breadcrumbs
Pitted and sliced black and green olives (as many as you like, I usually use about one and a half cups)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Here we go:

Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil.  Add the chicken. Cook it for a little and once the chicken is almost cooked add the bacon and the gizzards.

Once the meat is cooked add the tomato sauce. Stir and cook for a few minutes then add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Take the pot off the burner. Add the breadcrumbs while stirring. Next add your olives and the chopped eggs.

My family stuffs our turkey with this yummy stuffing and then puts the rest in the oven (in a separate dish) when there is about an hour left of cooking time for the turkey. Some people have concerns about stuffing the turkey but we figure that it cooks long enough so it’s ok. I leave this up to you.

Once the turkey is cooked we remove the stuffing from the turkey and add it to the rest of the stuffing, this adds flavour and moisture.

This year I won’t be stuffing my turkey… are you sitting down for this?

I’m going to deep fry the bird. I will most definitely blog about this, so stay tuned.

Let me know what you think if you try this recipe and please share your favourite stuffing recipe with me in the comments below!