What’s the most unattractive dish served during the holidays that everyone takes a picture of and none of them are good shots? Hint: it’s also one of the most delicious and favorite side dishes during the holidays…the stuffing!
Ingredient Snapshot! ~ Chestnuts!
Many stuffing recipes I see floating around the internet have brown little bites called giblets in them. Have you ever looked up what giblets are? It’s awful, whoops typo, affal. The affal of the turkey. I won’t say anymore other than the chestnuts are brown too, but delicious and sweet, nutty like and naturally vegan. They grow on trees but they are not considered a tree nut in the allergen world. I like using chestnuts in stuffing. My mother, who cooked daily, turned me on to these tasty treats and I have craved them at this time of year since I was a child.
France is particularly known for growing and celebrating chestnuts, called marron in French. There is even a chestnut museum in the village of Joyeuse (perfect name too). Chestnut soups, pies, cakes, jams, and the sweetened whole ones are known as bonbon marron, which is worth the try for the name alone!
This chestnut stuffing recipe I keep simple and use the peeled and roasted chestnuts not the sweetened ones. They naturally have a sweet flavor and are firm but yet creamy at the same time. They are easy to find this time of year, already peeled and roasted, in grocery stores or online markets.
A simple addition of a half cup of dried cranberries or a cup of chopped apple can be a nice compliment to the chestnuts in this recipe.
The moral of this story is to stay away from the awful foods and stick with the vegan choices this holiday season!
French Chestnut Stuffing
Enough to stuff 8 adult mouths.
6 cups Slightly stale bread*, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
12-13 oz. Peeled and cooked chestnuts, coarsely chopped
4 ea. Large shallots, peeled and finely chopped
2 ea. Celery stalks, finely chopped
1 cup Fresh chopped Italian parsley
1 ½ tsp Sea salt
¼ tsp. White pepper
1 ½ cups Non-dairy milk (unsweetened), such as oat or soy
½ cup + 2 Tbsp. Olive oil
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- In a large mixing bowl toss bread, chopped chestnuts, shallots, celery, parsley, salt and white pepper.
- Add non-dairy milk and ½ cup olive oil and mix well.
- Use the remaining 2 Tbsp. olive oil to coat the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish or equivalent and pour in the stuffing mixture.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 min.
- Remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the top is browned and beautiful.
*If you don’t have stale bread, you can bake the cut bread cubes at 250℉ for 12-15 min. Toss half way through cooking.
