Pancetta, Red Onion, Herb & Lemon Stuffing Recipe

This recipe was in the Aldi Christmas brochure in December 2016 – I was just flicking through and snipped out this Pancetta, red onion, herb and lemon stuffing recipe that caught my eye  – and, as I know I’ll have “lost” it if I ever want to refer to it again, I decided the best thing to do was to type it out here, so I can find it again. Genius, eh.

I’m not somebody who buys pancetta, but I was interested in the ratios of the other ingredients really, as a “base stuffing mix” to build on with something instead of pancetta.  “It can always be left out” is my default mantra.  I collect recipes as “ideas”, rather than to be followed explicitly.  And, it’s true, I like looking at photos of food 🙂

So, here it is:

Serves 4, Prep 10 minutes, Cook 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 3x80g packs Specially Selected Pancetta
• 2 medium red onions, peeled
• 30g butter
• 1 Lemon
• 20g fresh herbs: rosemary, parsley, thyme
• 1x70g crunchy trail seed mix
• 3 slices malted Bloomer Bread
• 1 large egg
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6
2. Chop the red onions and fry them in the butter, along with the chopped pancetta Cook on a low heat until the onion is softened.
3. Make some breadcrumbs with the malted bloomer
4. Chop the herbs finely and mix with the breadcrumbs and seed mix. Add this mixture to the onion and pancetta.
5. Zest the lemon and add to the stuffing mix, along with the juice.
6. Season with some salt and black pepper.
7. Finally, whisk the egg and add to the mix.
8. Put into an ovenproof dish and bake in the oven for 15 minutes

Now, there are some food cheats I can instantly spot there.

Food Cheats:

• Onions/Butter/Pancetta: Cook the onions in butter (and pancetta if you use it) in the microwave.
• Herbs: I’d use dried herbs and add those to the cooked onion/butter and let them sit to one side for 10 minutes or so to soften up a bit and soak up some of those juices.
• Malted Bloomer Bread: I’d use whatever bread I had (or even ~120-150 grams of cheap sage & onion stuffing mix if I didn’t have bread).
• Seed Mix:  I’d think twice about this, in short, is it worth buying that ingredient in specially just to make this!

So, with everything stripped out …. there are the bare bones of an idea of how to make stuffing mix – just switch in what you’ve got/like to make up the difference.

I’d also add that I’d cut up the onions much smaller than the photo suggests – and I’d squidge the mix together so it was more of a “stuffing loaf” than a loose stuffing.  I find loose stuffings are “more of an American style” and I much prefer stuffing to be “sliceable” and tight/dense.