Chestnut & cranberry roll

400 kcal or less bramley apple bramley apples breadcrumb breadcrumbs chestnut chestnuts christmas christmas meal cranberries cranberry leftovers mains make ahead over an hour parsley pork sausage pork sausages sage side dishes streaky bacon stuffing thyme trimmings winter xmas

N/A

Makes 2 rolls, each cuts into 8 slices

Source

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 Bramley apples, approx 140/5oz each, peeled

3 x 450g/1lb packs good-quality pork sausage

2 x 200g/7oz packs vacuum-packed chestnuts, roughly chopped

small bunch parsley, leaves roughly chopped

small bunch sage, leaves roughly chopped

small bunch thyme, leaves stripped

1 egg

100g white breadcrumb

175g fresh or frozen cranberry

24 rashers streaky bacon

butter, for greasing

Method

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then gently fry the onion for 5 mins until softened. Finely chop the apples either by hand or in a food processor.

Squeeze the sausagemeat from the sausages into a large bowl, then add all the other ingredients, except the cranberries and streaky bacon. Season generously, then get your hands in and mix well. Weigh out 450g of the stuffing and mix a handful of the cranberries into it. Use to stuff the neck of the turkey (see 'Goes well with').

To assemble, butter and season a large sheet of foil. Stretch out the bacon rashers slightly with the back of a kitchen knife, then overlap 12 rashers on the foil. Spoon half of the stuffing mix evenly over the bacon, leaving a border of about 3cm. Scatter with half the cranberries, then pat them in. Tuck the long edges of the bacon over the stuffing; then, using the foil to help, roll the stuffing up into a log shape. Repeat to make a second roll.

Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Put the foil-wrapped rolls onto a roasting tin and roast for 45 mins. Unwrap, draining off any juice, then finish roasting for 15 mins until the bacon is crisp.