“Greek” Turkey Stuffing

When I was little, I remember my grandfather, my Papou, and our next door neighbors who happened to be Greek, roasting chestnuts on fall nights over a bonfire  in the back yard. He would then peel them and share them with us. I didn’t really like them, but ate them anyway cause it seemed so “special” to have roasted chestnuts. What was really special was sitting around that bonfire with grownups at night past my bedtime, listening to the Greek conversations and laughter.

On Thanksgiving, our relatives and we would take turns having dinner at our various homes. One family lived in Ipswich, Mass; one in Portland, ME; one in So Portland, ME; one in Cape Elizabeth, ME; and we lived in Nashua, NH. All we cousins had great fun playing and running around while the adults prepared the wonderful turkey dinner. The traditional turkey stuffing was made with chestnuts. In all these years, it has never occurred to me to add chestnuts to my favorite bread stuffing, probably because I was never a fan of  chestnuts. And I must say, I didn’t think it was of Greek origin, so I did a little research and actually discovered an interesting fact. Large chestnuts are grown in the mountains of the Peloponnese and they have developed many ways of using them there. This Greek stuffing was used for barbecued roasts in Greece, but is equally delicious for the American Thanksgiving turkey. Since my mother’s parents came here from the Peloponnese, it explains where this idea of putting chestnuts in turkey dressing came from. I don’t actually have her recipe, but found one that has the ingredients I remember eating back in the Thanksgivings of my childhood. This recipe I found in an old Greek cookbook my parents gave me in 1976 called The Complete Greek Cookbook.

Chestnut Dressing Peloponnesus

1 lb bulk sausage                                              2 cups chicken broth

3 onions, chopped                                          1 loaf of bread (a baguette is good)

1 whole head of celery, chopped             2 eggs

1 bunch parsley, chopped                          1 can chestnuts, chopped

1 tbsp poultry seasoning                            18 calamata olives, chopped

2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper

Fry sausage over medium heat. Add onions, celery and parsley, cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add herbs,  seasonings and broth. Cover and cook 15 minutes on low heat.

Make breadcrumbs from bread using blender or chop into small chunks. Add to pan, toss, and mix well with onion mixture. Cover, turn off heat and allow to steam 15 minutes. Mix in eggs, chestnuts and olives. Stuff turkey and bake any remaining dressing in covered dish at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or less.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving and have fun making some special memories.

See you next time.

Tagged as: chestnut stuffing, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Greek stuffing, roasted chestnuts, sausage stuffing, turkey stuffing