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Recipes from Andalucia

By Nick Nutter

Andalucian Christmas sausage meat and stuffings

I do like Cumberland sausage meat in my Christmas sage and onion stuffing. Thinking about it I also use the same sausage meat in my chestnut stuffing. Good though it is in Spain, I just cannot seem to find the real thing. There was only one thing for it. Make my own sausage meat. At least it will not contain all those preservatives, e numbers and, I discovered whilst listening to ‘Have I Got News For You’, pigs teeth.

I am also informed by Micky Moses Jones, admin over at Brits and other expats in Spain and Portugal, that British pigs are injected with copper and fed water tablets and salt tablets and Sulphate, which is not allowed in Spain.

Andalucian Christmas sausage meat

I started with a mental taste of Cumberland sausage and took it from there. Trial and error, using locally sourced ingredients and a few herbs from the garden and not a few grams increase in weight later, I think I have cracked it. I am not allowed to call it Cumberland sausage meat for obvious reasons, so I am calling it my UYB (Up Yours Brexit) sausage meat. Only joking I call it Andalucian Christmas sausage meat.

I have also included my recipes for Chestnut and sausage meat stuffing and my sausage meat, sage and onion stuffing so that you can also have a trial run. – Enjoy.

Fresh chestnuts are available in Andalucia in the supermarkets from late October until Christmas. It used to be that of an evening, enterprising Spaniards would stand on street corners with a brazier, sometimes made from a 50 gallon oil drum, roasting chestnuts and selling them in paper cones. Peeling and eating the almost glowing nuts certainly warmed cold fingers. That delicious smoky aroma is unforgettable. It used to cling to your clothing. There seem to be very few chestnut roasters left.

That’s enough nostalgia. You will need 250 gram of fresh chestnuts. Roast them in an oven set at 200 C for 25 – 30 minutes until the skins start to peel. Allow to cool before peeling them completely and then roughly chop them up. OK, cheat if you must. You can buy tins of roasted chestnuts, castañas, in supermarkets.

I like to have my stuffings done and in the freezer in plenty of time for Christmas. I also enjoy a trial run, just to make sure they are as good as last year – sad I know.

Mathematically inclined readers and those of you who have made all three stuffings, will realise that you have about 250 gram of Andalucian Christmas sausage meat stuffing left over. I was going to suggest you froze it for breakfast on Boxing Day, but, on second thoughts, make it into patties fry it up tomorrow.

Andalucian Christmas sausage meat and stuffings

Preparation Time: 30 mins Cooking Time: 60 mins Total Time: 90 mins
Serves: 10 Difficulty: Easy Suitable for: Meat and Fish eaters

Ingredients

  • Andalucian Christmas sausage meat
  • 500 grams minced pork
  • 200 grams chicken mince
  • 50 grams breadcrumbs
  • 1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
  • 1 tbs fresh sage, chopped very fine
  • 1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped very fine
  • ½ tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • 2 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • Andalucian chestnut and sausage meat stuffing
  • Knob of butter
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 stick celery, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 250 gram roughly chopped chestnuts
  • 200 gram Andalucian Christmas sausage meat

Method

Andalucian Christmas sausage meat
Mix the whole lot together by hand, squeezing the mix so that you end up with a paste.

Sage, onion and sausage meat stuffing
Finely chop 2 large onions and simmer them in chicken stock until tender. Meanwhile, use a herb/spice grinder, to produce about 2 tablespoons of sage, or use 1 tablespoon of dried sage. Drain the onions (reserve the stock, this is the base of the turkey gravy, freeze it if necessary). Mix together the onion mix and 200 gram of the sausage meat.

You can freeze the stuffing at this stage if you wish.

You should have enough there to stuff the neck end of a turkey and have a portion to cook separately if, like me, you enjoy your stuffing.

Andalucian chestnut and sausage meat stuffing
Fry the onions and celery in the butter for 10 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and cook for one minute.

Mix the whole lot together in a large bowl with the chopped chestnuts and Andalucian Christmas sausage meat.

You can freeze the stuffing at this stage if you wish.

Either fresh or dethawed, you can stuff the neck end of the turkey with the stuffing or cook it separately as follows:

Put the stuffing in a loaf tin or similar, cover with foil, and put it in an oven set to 190 C for 45 minutes. Take the foil off and continue cooking for another 10 minutes if you like a crust on your stuffing.