Our menu has influences from all over the World. But here’s how one of our great grandma’s recipes of a British favourite, got a Yard & Coop twist and ended up on our menu.
When we thought of what to put on our new menu we considered staple favourites like everybody’s favourite meal of the week: Sunday Dinner! Already having our ‘Winner Winner Chicken Dinner’ we wanted a perfect side dish to compliment this, which could also be enjoyed on their own. What did we come up with? Stuffing balls!
This is one of our great grandma’s recipes, and whenever we have it, the taste just takes us right back to our childhood. We spoke to Lesley, the mum of co-owner Carl Morris, about its creation.
“My grandmother used to cook stuffing at Christmas using sausage meat and chestnuts, with sage and onion. So, one Christmas I copied the recipe and it went down a treat. Since then, it’s the only way I’ll make stuffing.”
Lesley’s father was one of the first organic farmers in the UK so all the ingredients were organic and from the farm – including the sausage meat! This made it taste even more special. Having had it at our family dinners we wanted to recreate the dish but put a Yard & Coop stamp on it. So we deep fried it. Obvs.
We serve the deep fried stuffing balls with our homemade chicken gravy, a drizzling of cranberry sauce and a sprig of thyme. And they’re magical. Give them a whirl next time you pop by, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Make your own at home:
Enough Ingredients to stuff a big bird:
Diced Red Onion 300g
Diced Celery 300g
Sausage Meat 750g
Cooked chestnuts 200g
Fresh Sage 50g
Chicken stock 600ml
Salt 2g
Pepper 2g
Herb de Provence 15g
Eggs 2
Breadcrumbs 150g
Method:
- Sweat the onion, celery, herbs and sage with salt and pepper for 10 minutes on a medium heat.
- In a separate pan, chop the chestnuts and break up the sausage meat and cook through until lightly coloured.
- Combine the vegetable mix in with the sausage meat and chestnuts.
- Add the stock and reduce for 10 minutes on a medium heat
- Mash all ingredients into a pulp.
- Add the egg and mix through.
- Add the breadcrumbs and mix through.
For stuffing – flip the bird and stuff it
For stuffing balls – make into 35g balls, coat in panko bread crumbs and deep fry