Christmas is just around the corner and if you’re after the perfect stuffing recipe for that spectacular roast chicken for the Chrissie table then look no further. This delicious ‘red and white’ stuffing is a favourite at the Irrewarra Sourdough Bakery and will have your guests asking for more.

Ingredients

140g grams of Irrewarra Sourdough bread, 1-2 days old, torn roughly from our Irrewarra Casalinga loaf (or sandwich loaf)
4 cubes of Meredith Marinated Goats Cheese crumbled into chunky pieces
10 large dark cherries (we love Koala Country Orchard cherries), stone remove and quartered
Fresh thyme leaves removed from stem and chopped rosemary
4 rashers of good bacon (the ½ rashes) finely sliced
½ a medium brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed then roughly chopped
Murray River Sea Salt flakes and freshly ground peppercorns
Good extra virgin olive oil (we love Cobram Estate First Harvest)

Recipe

In a cast iron or heavy bottomed pan, fry the onion in 1-2 tablespoons of the olive oil for a few minutes until becoming clear. Add the bacon and fry on high until bacon and onions start to brown. Add the garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add to the torn Irrewarra Sourdough bread in a bowl and mix through.

Then add the rosemary and thyme, 2-3 good pinches of salt flakes and pepper, then the cherries and Meredith Dairy Marinated Goats Cheese and gently toss to combine. Add a little more of the olive oil and toss again.

Fill the cavity until the skin just manages to cover the stuffing (use all or most of the stuffing) then “sew” the skin together with a bamboo skewer pushing the spike into the parsons nose to fully close the cavity.

Drizzle olive oil all over the chicken and rub to cover the whole bird. Sprinkle with salt flakes and pepper. For a slow cook set the oven to 145C (fan forced oven) and bake for 2 hours (160 conventional oven). For a faster bake turn the oven to 180C and cook for just over an hour.

Allow to rest for an about an hour before cutting.

We hope you enjoy our Irrewarra Sourdough stuffing recipe as much as we do. Yum!