Thanksgiving recipe

Stuffing for Turkey

 

(Greece)

 

This is without a doubt the best stuffing recipe I’ve ever tasted.  It’s very rich (chestnuts, currants, pine nuts, walnuts, wine, half a pound of butter – hey, it’s the holidays!) but it’s also easy.  One of the things I like about it is that it’s cooked on top of the stove, which is nice if, like me, you’re single or have a small family and  prefer to go the turkey breast route rather than cooking a whole turkey.  The recipe comes from Eva Zane’s Greek Cooking for the Gods.

 

 

Turkey giblets, finely chopped      (I omit this)

1 pound ground beef

1 garlic clovef, minced

1 cup chopped celery

2 onions, finely chopped

½ cup minced parsley

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon fines herbes

1 cup raw rice

1 pound chestnuts, cooked and chopped

(I use the cooked, vacuum-packed chestnuts sold by specialty grocers or upscale supermarkets)      

¼ cup seedless currants, soaked in

1 cup white wine

½ cup pine nuts

1 can tomato sauce (8-ounce)

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 cup white wine

salt and pepper

butter

 

 

Saute the ground beef, giblets and garlic in ¼ pound (1 stick) butter for 5 minutes; add onions, celery, parsley, poultry seasoning, cinnamon and fines herbes; saute until ingredients are well mixed.  Add the rice, currants with wine, pine nuts, walnuts, chestnuts, tomato sauce, salt and pepper; mix well and simmer (covered) for 20 minutes.  Correct seasoning with salt and pepper, add ¼ pound (1 stick) butter and the additional wine.  Stir well and remove from fire.

 

Now, at this point you can stuff  your turkey with the precooked stuffing, if you like, or you can simply use it as is (you might want to taste a grain of rice to make sure it’s fully cooked; if it’s not, you can just simmer it a little longer