Chestnut Stuffing Gravy

Chestnuts are full of starch, which means they will thicken a gravy on their own if you blitz them into it. The result is softer and rounder than a floury gravy and it tastes unmistakably of Christmas. It is also gluten free without anyone having to think about it, which is worth knowing if you have a full table.

Ingredients

Makes about 800ml, enough for eight plates

• 40g (1 1/2oz) butter or fat from the turkey tin
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 sticks celery finely chopped
• 6 leaves sage shredded
• 200g (7oz) cooked peeled chestnuts vacuum packed are fine
• 100ml (3 1/2fl oz) dry sherry
• 900ml (1 1/2 pints) hot turkey or chicken stock
• 1 tsp sherry vinegar
• sea salt, black pepper and a grating of nutmeg

Kit

• Saucepan
• Stick blender or jug blender
• Fine sieve

Method

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onion and celery with a pinch of salt for eight minutes until soft and just golden at the edges. Add the sage for the last minute so it crisps slightly rather than stewing.

2. Crumble in 150g of the chestnuts, keeping 50g back, and stir them around for two minutes so they pick up the butter and start to break at the edges.

3. Pour in the sherry and let it bubble for two minutes until the raw alcohol has cooked off and the pan looks syrupy. Scrape the base as you go.

4. Add the hot stock, bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for fifteen minutes. The chestnuts should be soft enough to crush against the side of the pan with a spoon. If they are not, give them another five minutes.

5. Blitz the whole lot until completely smooth with a stick blender, working it for a good minute. Chestnut takes longer to go silky than you expect, and a short blitz leaves a slightly sandy texture.

6. Push it through a fine sieve into a clean pan for a properly velvet finish, pressing with a ladle. If it seems too thick, let it down with more hot stock, since chestnut thickens further as it cools.

7. Crumble the remaining 50g of chestnuts into rough pieces and stir them through, so there is texture as well as body. Add the vinegar, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and simmer for one more minute before pouring.

Tips worth knowing

• Vacuum packed cooked chestnuts are perfectly good here and save you an hour of peeling. Tinned chestnuts in water work too, but drain them well.
• Do not add the resting juices from the turkey unless you bring the gravy back to a full simmer afterwards. That rule holds for every gravy but people forget it with the blended ones.
• Chestnut gravy thickens noticeably in the jug. Serve it a shade looser than you want it and it will be right by the time it reaches the last plate.
• If you also make a chestnut stuffing, use the same packet and the flavours line up on the plate rather than competing.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps three days in the fridge and three months in the freezer, cooled fast in a shallow tray. It sets very solid because of the chestnut starch. Reheat with plenty of extra stock, blitz briefly to bring the texture back and bring it to a rolling boil.

Questions people ask