Stuffing

You can follow an elaborate recipe when making the stuffing on Christmas day, or you can put together almost any combination of breadcrumbs and flavourings, and it will be delicious. Here is a recipe that I am making up as I write. It will work, I promise.

2 onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 plateful breadcrumbs
3 heaped tbsp chopped parsley
Zest of 1 lemon
Pepper
1 egg, beaten

Soften the onion and garlic in butter or oil until golden -- about 15 minutes. Tip them into the breadcrumbs in a bowl, and mix in the parsley (you might use other herbs, or a combination, of course) and lemon zest, along with generous grindings of black pepper. (You may not need any more salt than is already contained in the bread.) Bind the mixture with the egg, and pack it into a buttered oven dish.

You can put the stuffing into the oven when you take out the turkey (or other fowl) to rest. Timing and oven heat do not have to be precise. Thirty minutes at gas mark 5/190 C should work fine; but no doubt you'll have potatoes roasting in the oven as well, possibly at gas mark 6/200 C. They'll be on the top shelf, and the stuffing will have to go underneath. That will be fine, too.

There are some general tips about Christmas lunch in my New Stateseman column, here.