GOOSEY GOOSEY GANDER......

Goose or Turkey for Christmas Day? December the first today and an early start as The Pink Lovely woke up at 3am to open day 1 on her advent calender!  Quite rightly, judging this not to be the exact moment to wake me up and confide in the unbelievable excitement of the ceremonial openings (3 gorgeous advent calenders!), I shall have to go and have a quick peak before she gets back from school! If I can get her back from school! Not only is it snowing but the lanes are skating rinks of compacted ice and crushed snow. Ideal for 10 minutes of top notch stress!
Back to the big question: There is a free-range goose farm down the lane and they look like a pure white snow storm on the hill side as they potter and flutter around the field. Very engaging but does one actually feed enough people or would a big fat juicy turkey be safer? Do we want days of turkey leftovers or might we survive on a slice of goose?
Either way the fruity stuffing that I made for my roast pheasant the other day was sublime.  The tartness of the apples complimented the delicate meat and the prunes gave it the sweet contrast. This is perfect stuffing for goose or turkey which is lucky as I am still undecided! It will cut through rich meat but enhance bland meat and is delicious cold.
RECIPE FOR EASY GLUTEN FREE CHRISTMAS STUFFING
Serves 6-8 ( 2/3 roast pheasants or a huge family roast chicken)
Bake the stuffing in a 1.5litre china soufflé dish or something round and deep for 2hrs, covered with a piece of buttered paper and a lid of double thickness foil. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas4. Or stuff the chicken/goose/small turkey with it.  If the turkey is huge, I suggest stuffing it with a traditional sausage-meat based stuffing and having this apple and prune stuffing as a side dish.
225g gluten free Antoinette Savill Signature Series white bread (Waitrose and Morrisons), whizzed into breadcrumbs
100g ready-to-eat, stoned prunes, finely diced
2 large Bramley apples, peeled cored and finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
15g bunch sage, leaves only diced
fine sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, freshly grated nutmeg
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
30g melted butter or sunflower dairy free spread
Mix all the ingredients together with a blunt knife in a large bowl. Bind the ingredients together with the melted butter.  Stuff the cavity of the chicken or goose and roast until the bird is thoroughly cooked.

Easy Gluten Free Christmas Mincemeat

It is snowing again and so the moment has come to do a Christmas Mincemeat tasting and choose between mine and a few other local goodies. Totally unbiased of course, The Pink Lovely will be the judge! A very discerning and honest 7yr old, I am quaking in my snow boots!
The verdict is out: All the other jars of mincemeat were too sweet and mine was voted the tastiest and richest but mine was not as colourful and oozy as the others. So now I am adding 4 more tablespoons of brandy to my recipe. If you want to put in some quartered glacé cherries for colour, then do!
I shall now go and stir the extra brandy into my mincemeat!                                          RECIPE FOR MY EASY GLUTEN FREE CHRISTMAS MINCEMEAT
makes about 4x400ml jars
2x large Bramley apples or 3 big eating apples, cored and finely chopped
500g mixed dried fruit
100g ready-chopped candied peel
60g blanched almonds, chopped
175g light muscovado sugar
1 large orange and lemon, zest and juice
2 heaped teaspoons mixed spice
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Plenty of freshly grated nutmeg
10 tablespoons brandy or rum
150g butter or sunflower dairy-free spread

Put all the ingredients except the butter in a large bowl, cover and leave all night for the flavours to develop.
Make sure you have your jam jars sterilized and hot.
Put the fruit mixture into a roasting tin or large dish and bake in a low oven until it is warmed through which should be about 20 minutes. Dot the butter over the warm fruit and carefully fold it in until it has all melted.  Divide the mixture between the hot jars and put the lids on.  Leave to cool and store in a cool, dark place.

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