Tom Kerridge's 'lush' stuffing balls have a hidden ingredient for festive zing
Tom Kerridge's 'amazing' recipe for 'lush' Christmas dinner stuffing balls incorporates juniper and chestnuts to make it extra special for the meal of the year.
Christmas dinner is no ordinary meal and traditionally comes with many trimmings and added extras. One that many enjoy adding to the menu are stuffing balls to accompany their meat of choice and TV chef Tom Kerridge has an extra special recipe for the day that he says will work perfectly and is like a posh version of Paxo, with meat added in.
"Stuffing balls - amazing to have with your Christmas turkey, roast beef, whatever it is you're having - even just a normal Sunday lunch," he says. "As it's Christmas we want to make them a little bit more special."
He does this by adding juniper berries, which add a Christmas spice flavour, chestnuts, sage and cranberries for that festive zing, which he says is a little bit like "sweet and sour chewing gum". He does say other dried fruits can be used too, such as apricots, dried apples, raisins and sultanas, although he "loves" cranberries at this time of year.
The stuffing balls can be made the day before and stored in the fridge covered with cling film before getting them out to cook with your meal or they can be prepared and made on the day.
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Here are the ingredients you will need - it makes 14 stuffing balls:
- 800g normal sausage meat
- 350g cooked dice onion
- 100g diced vacuum packed chestnuts
- 30g dried breadcrumbs
- 5 leaves of chopped sage
- 2tsp salt
- 3tsp cracked black pepper
- 50g dried cranberries
- 8 juniper berries chopped
Here's the method to make Tom Kerridge's Christmas stuffing balls:
Mix the cooked onions into the sausage meat to loosen it up because it will be quite firm. Add the cranberries into the mix and break up the chestnuts, which is possible because they are already cooked and soft, into chunky pieces that will have texture.
Next cut up the juniper berries taking care not to be too "gung-ho" because they will ping off the surface as they are round. Next up is sage and Tom says stuffing "wouldn't be happy unless it was with its mate sage" but you don't need a lot as it has a very powerful flavour.
Then add about three quarters of the breadcrumbs so you can see how it feels texturally once mixed in - if you need to add the rest then do. Add the seasoning and keep working it with your hands so the mixture becomes tighter. Then start rolling out the individual portions between your hands so they’re a little bit bigger than golf balls.
Put some vegetable oil into a frying pan on a medium heat and add your stuffing balls being careful not to overcrowd the pan. They can also be cooked in the oven but space may be at a premium with all the other food being prepared. Gently move the balls around to brown all over and cook for around 15 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate or dish up with the meal. straight onto plates.
Will you try Tom’s Christmas day stuffing balls? Let us know in the comments below.
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