Chestnut Stuffing

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 oz/100g chestnut mushrooms (optional)
1 pack sausagemeat
2 oz/50g breadcrumbs
1 packet/jar cooked chestnuts (fresh if you want to fiddle)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (remove leaves from sprigs)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
zest of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Method

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add onion and lightly season with salt, fry until soft. (If you season before you cook, the onions taste so much nicer). Add them to a separate bowl while you cook the mushrooms until soft, add the mushrooms to the bowl with the onions. Leave to cool while prepare the rest of the ingredients.
In a medium mixing bowl, put the sausagemeat, breadcrumbs, thyme, parsley, lemon zest (I do recommend a microplane grater, it produces the most amazing results). I chop the chestnuts into 4 pieces, I like some chunks in the stuffing rather than mush. Add in the onions and then season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and use to stuff the neck of the turkey/goose, you can also make stuffing balls with any left overs and pop them in with the pigs in blankets when roasted in the oven.