Fig and chestnut stuffing

Ingredients

• 100 g of butter
• 1 red onion, diced
• 100 g of button mushrooms, diced
• 1 tsp thyme, picked
• 200 g of chestnuts, cooked and peeled
• 100 g of dried figs, chopped
• 250 ml of vegetable stock
• 100 g of breadcrumbs
• 100 g of butter
• salt
• black pepper

Instructions

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4

2. 2

   Heat a frying pan over a medium heat with 25g of the butter and sweat down the shallots and mushrooms with the thyme until softened but not coloured. Season with salt and pepper

3. 3

   Add the chestnuts and figs, cook for a further 5 minutes then add the stock and bring to the boil

4. 4

   Melt the remaining butter and mix through the breadcrumbs in a large bowl

5. 5

   Add the chestnut mixture to the breadcrumbs and mix well

6. 6

   Grease a baking dish with butter and press in the mixture – the mixture should be about 2cm deep, I used a 20x30cm dish

7. 7

   Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is lovely and crispy