Buckland Manor's Head Chef, Will Guthrie's top tip for Christmas Day cooking:

“I like to make sure that all my vegetables and sauces are done the day before to take the stress out of cooking on the day. Make sure that for roasting the turkey it's covered in foil for the first half then based with a lot of butter and chicken stock for the second half to insure a moist piece of meat. Plus, make sure there is a lot of chocolate Baileys on hand on the day... makes for a more relaxed day!”

Method

Peel and finely dice the onion and garlic, sweat in a pan and cover with vegetable oil. Cook until soft and cool to one side.
Dice the apricot, prunes and chestnuts.
Finely slice the sage and place to one side.
Into a kitchen aid mixer place the sausage meat and beat with the two whole eggs.
When this has being done add the chopped items, sage, grain mustard and double cream and incorporate together.
Drain off the chilled onions and garlic confit and mix into the sausage meat.
With two layers of cling film laid out on a flat service place the stuffing down the middle a third into the cling film and form a large sausage shape. Then roll tight with foil.
There will be enough mix to do this twice, then in a suitable sized sauce pan cover the stuffing with cold water and bring to a gentle simmer on a stove. When achieved this take off stove and let it cool down in the water until it's cold.
Place in the fridge over night.
Next day unwrap the stuffing and slice into suitable sized portions place on a tray and heat for 20 min at 160°c then serve. Stuffing done!

Ingredients

1 onion
10 sage leaves
1 garlic glove
100g peeled chestnuts
500g sausage meat
2 eggs
100g double cream
50g grain mustard
50g dried apricots
50g dried prunes
salt & pepper
200ml vegetable oil

Details

Serves: 8
Difficulty: Medium
Prep time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 20 + 20 minutes