This meat-free stuffing is made up of whole food ingredients and celebrates the green and red colours of Christmas with pepitas and dried cranberries.
- DF Dairy free
- GF Gluten free
- VG Vegetarian
- F Festive
- Prep time 10 mins
- Cook Time 25 mins
- Serves 6
- Difficulty medium
Method
- Preheat oven to 175°C.
- In a frypan, add olive oil and cook leek and celery on medium heat, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned.
- Add herbs and stir for one minute, until fragrant. Remove from heat.
- In a bowl, combine, nuts, pepitas and cranberries. Add the leek mixture, mix together. Add the eggs, salt and pepper, mix to combine.
- Lightly grease 6 ramekins (10cm diameter) with olive oil.
- Divide mixture evenly among the ramekins, packing it in firmly. Cook in oven for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned on top. Allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Either serve in ramekins, or run a knife around the edge of the ramekin to loosen and turn onto a plate, and rest another plate on the upturned 'pie' to turn it back to its original position.
Tip: the mixture can be prepared the night before, put in ramekins and covered, and stored in the refrigerator.
Nutritional information
By Jean Hailes naturopath and herbalist Sandra Villella
This meat-free stuffing is made up of whole food ingredients. Ground nuts, leek and celery form the base instead of bread and/or mince (traditionally used as the bulk of stuffing), along with some classic aromatic stuffing herbs.
The celebratory green and red colours of Christmas are represented by pepitas and dried cranberries, and the cranberries in the stuffing complement the turkey instead of the traditional cranberry sauce. The result – a festive side dish, with the crunch of pepitas, the flavoursome taste of savoury herbs and the sweetness of moist cranberries.
