Christmas - Thanksgiving Stuffing

Directions

Cook the chestnuts: Cut a groove on each chestnut and roast them on the stove (if you’ve got an electric stove, placing the chestnuts on the burner will do the trick, though you’ll have to do some cleaning afterwards.) When they’re done, peel them. Watch your hands.

Brown the beef with half the butter. Add the rice, salt and a little water, and let it cook on low heat, until the water is absorbed.

Boil the liver, mince it and add it into the rice and meat. Add the almonds, prunes, raisins, chestnuts (cut in chunks) and pine nuts. Add a small amount of water and let everything simmer until the water is absorbed.

The stuffing is ready to use. Add the remaining butter and bake it. I usually wrap the stuffing in aluminum foil, put it in a separate pan and bake it along with the chicken. When the chicken is ready, the stuffing is ready too!

NOTES:

• Holiday stuffing with fruit and nuts -- This is an elaborate version of the type of poultry stuffing made in Greece. People there have never heard of bread stuffings and, once you taste this recipe, you’ll never want to hear about bread stuffings either! I got the recipe from my mother, who got it from a friend, who got it from her sister-in-law, who... Yield: stuffs 5 to 6 lb poultry.

• If the chestnut-roasting procedure is to messy for you, then just boil them.

• The amounts in the ingredients list are there for completeness’ sake. You should really interpret them as a few, a handful or one small package. The only thing you have to bear in mind is that putting more prunes will make the stuffing sourer, and putting more raisins will make it sweeter.