These sausage and bacon stuffing balls are packed with fruit for a festive touch.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp sunflower oil, plus extra to grease
- 2 rindless dry-cured streaky bacon rashers, finely chopped
- 15g butter
- ½ small onion, finely chopped
- 40g celery, finely chopped
- ½ small cox apple, peeled, cored and finely diced
- 75g good-quality pork sausagemeat
- 40g soft prunes, finely diced
- 15g fresh white breadcrumbs
- ½ tbsp finely chopped fresh hyssop or thyme leaves (see tip)
- 2 tsp beaten egg
Method
- 1. Heat the oil in a small frying pan, then cook the bacon until golden. Add the butter, onion and celery, then fry gently for 5 minutes until the onion is soft and golden. Add the apple to the pan and fry for 2 minutes, then season lightly and transfer to a large bowl to cool.
- 2. Mix the sausagemeat, prunes, breadcrumbs and hyssop or thyme into the cooled onion and apple mixture. Season (bearing in mind the sausagemeat might be salty), stir in the egg to bind the mixture together, then use your hands to shape it into 6 evenly sized balls.
- 3. Put in a lightly oiled roasting tin. Bake with the partridge (for 15 minutes, then 10 minutes at 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4) until golden brown.
Nutritional info
Per serving: 290kcals, 16.9g fat, (5.2g saturated), 11.8g protein, 22.3g carbs (15g sugars), 1.7g salt, 4g fibre
Chef's tip
Hyssop is a rather old-fashioned herb that tastes like a cross between thyme and mint. If you’re not lucky enough to have it in your garden, use thyme instead.
More Christmas recipes
Christmas pudding
Make-ahead recipes
Christmas baking
Vegetarian Christmas recipes
Christmas recipes