Christmas Eve - Sausage Chestnut Stuffing

We’re having a Roasted Goose for Christmas dinner this year.  I’m making the Goose, Sausage and Chestnut Stuffing, Gravy, and Apple Pie for the dinner.  I’m making most of the food ahead of time today because I think the goose is going to take up the oven (and much of my time) on Christmas day.

I’m working on the stuffing first.  This is an old fashioned stuffing of breakfast sausage, onions, celery, fresh sage, egg, stock, and of course, chestnuts.  The chestnuts came from the grocery store’s fresh produce section and need to be roasted before using.  In roasting the chestnuts, you need to cut an X into each nut and place them on a sheet pan to roast at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or so.  Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool enough to handle.  As you peel the chestnuts there will undoubtedly be many that you can’t use.  If one is hard or looks moldy or in any way “off” just toss it and move on.  Don’t freak over how many you can’t use.  It is best to toss them than to ruin your stuffing with bad chestnuts.  They are a bit expensive but for Christmas dinner it’s worth it. 

I used a large handful of the chopped chestnuts nuts for the pan of stuffing that I am making.  I can’t give you actual amounts for this as I’ve never had a recipe for stuffing.  I’ve always just eyeballed it as I go.

I’m not cooking the stuffing in the goose like I would typically do with chicken or turkey.  Goose is one greasy fowl and the risk for very greasy stuffing just wasn’t worth the risk.  I have found that cooking the stuffing in a buttered casserole works just fine.  So, that’s what I’m doing this year.

The stuffing is being reheated tomorrow so I’m cooking it to temperature (for food safety reasons) but not as brown as I would when serving it.  I’ll do that shortly before we are ready to eat dinner.

It is Christmas Eve and I won’t be seeing my brother and his family on Christmas Day so we are going to go visit them this afternoon.  Once we get home though - I’ll be back in the kitchen.  It will be time to get that Apple Pie going.  Then, we’re having homemade pizza and beer for Christmas Eve dinner.  I know, not very traditional, but we like it anyway.