Festive Turkey Stuffing with Green Peppercorns, Pork Sausage, Apple and Thyme

I've used squashed green peppercorns as an ingredient for my turkey stuffing this Christmas not only because I want a change from the usual apricot-bacon-nut theme, but also because 2010 has been my personal Year of Pepper. I've always been partial to this splendid, much-adored spice - the king of spices, don't you agree? - but in recent months my love of pepper has developed into something of a craving.

Image from Wikipedia Creative Commons

I just can't get enough of the dark, warm, aromatic, citrussy scent and taste of peppercorns. White pepper, in particular, has featured in several of my recipes this year - it's my personal blogging mission to revive this rather neglected and unfashionable ingredient - and I am also very fond of green peppercorns in brine.

In this recipe, I've combined crushed green peppercorns with grated fresh apple, pork-sausage meat, breadcrumbs, thyme, lemon zest, onions, garlic and nuts to create a light, flavoursome stuffing that I think will be a good accompaniment to my run-of-the-mill supermarket turkey. I can't offer you a photograph, because I haven't stuffed the turkey yet, but I have fried up a few small patties of the stuffing to check the balance of flavours and the seasoning, and I'm very happy with the result.

I've used chopped, lightly toasted Brazil nuts in this stuffing because I love their slightly bitter, woodlandy taste - a bit like chewing on a branch, I always think - but you could quite easily use any similar crunchy nuts, such as macadamias or cashews. If you're making the stuffing in advance, as I've done, add the toasted nuts just before you stuff the turkey.

I found that this stuffing held together so well that I didn't need to add any egg. But if your stuffing mixture doesn't come together smartly when you squeeze a ball of it in your fist, add a beaten egg.

For the breadcrumbs, use slices of white or brown bread (or rolls) that are at least three days old. If your breadcrumbs are too soft and fluffy, the stuffing will be stodgy and pasty. Tear the bread slices into tatters and whizz them up, in batches, in a food processor or liquidizer.

Festive Turkey Stuffing with Green Peppercorns, Pork Sausage, Apple and Thyme

4 tsp (20 ml) olive oil
1½ cups very finely chopped onion (a very large onion, or two average-sized ones)
2 cloves fresh garlic, very finely chopped
the finely grated zest and juice of a lemon
2 red apples, cored
6 pork sausages (Eskort or Woolworths)
4 large sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves stripped (about 2 tablespoons of leaves)
4 tsp (20 ml) Madagascar green peppercorns
1 tsp (5 ml) flaky sea salt
5 cups (very loosely packed) fresh breadcrumbs
100 g chopped Brazil nuts (or similar; see my notes above)

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium flame. Add the finely chopped onions and the garlic, turn down the heat and cook very gently for 7-10 minutes, tossing now and again, until the onion is soft and transluscent. Don't allow the onion or garlic to brown.

Place the lemon zest and juice in a large mixing bowl. Grate the apple, skin and all, on the coarse side of a cheese grater, and tip the gratings directly into the bowl containing the lemon juice. Toss well so that the apple is coated with lemon juice. Squeeze the filling out of the pork sausages (discard the sausage skin) and add it to the mixing bowl, along with the thyme leaves and the cooked onion and garlic.

Put the green peppercorns in a mortar with the salt and pound them to a rough paste. (Or, if you don't have a mortar, squash them on a chopping board using a rolling pin or a heavy-based pot.) Add the pepper paste to the mixing bowl. Using your hands, squeeze and squish the contents of the mixing bowl together. Now tip all the fresh breadcrumbs into the bowl and, using a fork or your fingertips, lightly mix until combined. Don't overwork the mixture, or it will turn into wallpaper paste.

Toss the Brazil nuts in a hot, dry frying pan, over a medium flame, until lightly toasted. Lightly mix the nuts into the stuffing mixture.

At this point, it's a good idea to test the stuffing for flavour and seasoning. Take a small ball of the stuffing, press it into a little patty and fry it in hot oil until lightly browned. Taste the patty, add more salt if necessary, and then cover and place in the fridge until you're ready to stuff your turkey.

Makes enough stuffing for a large turkey.

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Mango and Macadamia Turkey Stuffing with Sage and Sausage Meat

My husband likes a bit of stuffing (groan...but how could I not use that old chestnut?) and is very partial to one containing dried apricots, just like his mum used to make.  This year, though, I thought I'd go for something with more of a local flavour.

Mangos have just come into season here in South Africa, and my goodness they are good this year: big, juicy globes with perfect, perfumed flesh.  I've used dried mangos in this stuffing, and have chosen local macadamias for the nut component, because they are surely the crunchiest of all nuts. A little pork-sausage meat adds body to the stuffing, with sage and lemon rind adding a final burst of flavour.

I can't offer you a photograph of the finished turkey, because it hasn't gone into the oven.

I love the day before Christmas (many South Africans have a feast on Christmas Eve, rather than on the 25th, when it's usually just too hot to sit down to an enormous lunch with all the trimmings).

We' re expecting 26 relatives and friends for a big feast tonight, including my sister and her family who have come from Sydney. (No, this turkey won't feed 26 - my sister's also bringing turkeys, and my mum bought a ham so big I had to put a seatbelt on it to drive it home.)   My other sister's making a Black Forest trifle, and the other (I have lots of sisters!) a cold cucumber soup for starters.  In a few minutes a gang of over-excited cousins is arriving to decorate the Christmas table, and I am marching around in my apron shouting instructions:  'Peel the potatoes! (My husband). 'Carry chairs outside!'  (My teens). 'Go and have a rest!' (My daughter).  I am a teeny bit grumpy, but that's all part of the fun, isn't it?

This quantity is enough to stuff a 3.5 kg turkey.

Mango and Macadamia Turkey Stuffing with Sage and Sausage Meat

a little sunflower oil

1 large onion, peeled and very finely chopped

4 pork sausages (Eskort sausages are unbeatable)

2 cloves garlic,  very finely chopped

3/4 cup macadamia nuts

1/3 cup chopped, dried mango slices

10 slices day-old white or brown bread, torn

6 large sage leaves

1 large (thumb-length) sprig of thyme, leaves stripped

the finely grated zest of a small lemon

1 extra-large egg, or two small ones, lightly beaten

salt and milled black pepper

Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan and add the onion.  Cook over a medium heat until just softened. Squeeze the sausage meat out of the sausages and add to the pan. Turn up the heat and cook briskly, using a fork to crumble the sausage meat.  When the meat begins to brown, add the garlic and cook for another two minutes. Remove from the heat.

Place the macadamia nuts and mango in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse until roughly chopped.   Remove and set aside.  Add the bread, sage, thyme and lemon zest to the food processor bowl and process until fine.  Tip into a large bowl, add the egg and season with salt and pepper. Add the chopped mango and nuts. Using your fingers, combine the mixture well.  It should have a loose open texture and just hold together when you squeeze a little into a ball.

Now test the seasoning: heat some sunflower oil in the same pan in which you cooked the onions, and add a little piece of stuffing. Fry on both sides until lightly browned. Taste the mixture and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Stuff the mixture into the cavity and the neck area of your turkey, tie up the legs and cook the turkey according the the instructions on the packet.

Enough to stuff a 3.5 kg turkey. 

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