A couple of posts back I made an amazing gluten free Jamaican Ginger Cake……. sticky, warming and delicious. If you read the post, you will know that I developed the recipe for a colleague of mine who was looking for a gluten free version to use in gingerbread stuffing. Every year she makes the stuffing using a Nigella Lawson recipe, but as her mum is gluten free, she misses out. So the challenge was on for me to make it an inclusive Christmas for a fellow gluten-avoider……
The ginger cake was the first stage of the process, but I also needed to make the stuffing……. to both taste it (because it sounded amazing) and to test the cake worked for it (although I really have no idea how it is meant to taste, having never eaten it before).
So without any excessive rambling (rare for me I know….) here it is….. the de-glutened Nigella Gingerbread Stuffing…… and it tastes good!
I made half the amount of the original recipe and still there seemed to be masses of the stuff. I guess if you have a huge family and loads of visitors for Christmas, you may want to do twice the amount shown here, but a little goes quite a long way.
The stuffing itself is really meaty with the bacon, but for me it was also quite sweet and I think that next time I make it (and there will definitely be a next time) I will add a little less cake.
I also think that I probably over-mixed before I tipped the stuffing into the pan to bake, because mine seemed a little smooth compared to the Nigella gluten version. The original recipe adds the cake and then the egg to bind…… I don’t think the fact that the cake had no gluten would have made much of a difference, but I should have been more gentle in folding the cake in, rather than stirring. I have also switched the recipe below slightly to add the cake last to cut down the risk of over mixing.
Not that any of this affected how good it tasted……. and whilst we trialled it without the turkey, I was more than able to imagine how amazing it would be alongside the Christmas bird and all the other trimmings (which of course will also temper the sweetness).
And if you are thinking about Boxing Day breakfast already….. this stuffing makes a fantastic sandwich (I checked!) and will be twice as good with a slice of turkey and a sausage added for good measure.
I am sharing my de-glutened version of Gingerbread Stuffing with the following linkies :
Cook Once Eat Twice with Searching for Spice
Free From Fridays with Le Coin De Mel & Free From Farmhouse
Cook Blog Share with Easy Peasy Foodie
#TheFoodCalendar with Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen – Celebrating Christmas Dinner and Boxing Day breakfast
Recipe of the Week with A Mummy Too
Sunday Fitness & Food with Marathons & Motivation
Gingerbread Stuffing : a Nigella Recipe de-glutened
Ingredients
375g streaky bacon – finely chopped
1 clementine – finely grated zest only
1 large egg – beaten
large pinch freshly ground black pepper
400g gluten free ginger cake (find my recipe here) – loosely crumbled (mental note to self : use slightly less next time)
Method
- Generously grease a small baking dish/2 pound loaf tin with butter, or completely line a 2 pound loaf tin with baking paper.
- Put the oil and butter in a large skillet/saucepan and fry the onions and apples until soft (10 to 15 minutes).
- Add the chopped bacon and cook for at least 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add the clementine zest and stir through.
- Remove the pan from the heat and cool a little (stirring occasionally to help cool more quickly).
- Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 200 C/400 F/Gas 6.
- When cool enough, add the beaten egg and pepper and stir through.
- Finally add the crumbled ginger cake and fold in gently.
- Tip the mixture into the prepared baking dish and push into the corners. Bake for about 50 minutes (covering with foil for the first 30 minutes to prevent the top from burning), until golden brown and crisp on top.
- Leave to cool in the dish/tin for 10 to 15 minutes before tipping out (or serve straight from the dish)
Gluten Free Alchemist © 2013-16 unless otherwise indicated
I'd never have thought of adding cake to stuffing. I love the idea of this though, it sounds delicious.
Thanks Charlotte. Neither would I! Good old Nigella….. xx
This sounds absolutely amazing! I love all things gingerbread, so will be trying this one for sure 🙂
Thanks Angela. Enjoy x
I love the fact you adapted the recipe to help a friend. It look great to me, you're too critical of your own cooking, me-thinks 🙂 Thanks for joining in with #FreeFromFridays.
Thanks Mel. I can be a bit of a perfectionist! But I always like the challenge of finding a way to make dishes that people miss. x
Oooh I love the sound of this! I am going to have to have a go at this! x
Ha ha! Thanks Midgie. Hope you enjoy! x
What an unusual recipe but it sounds absolutely delicious! I really had never thought to put cake in a stuffing but it sounds like this is exactly what your colleague and her mum are looking for. Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice!
Thanks Corina. Me neither before this, but it worked really well x
Ooh, this is definitely a bit different – but I like it! And such gorgeous photos. I especially like how you carefully checked that this works in a sandwich. Food blogging's a tough job sometimes 😉 Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare 🙂 Eb x
Thank you Eb. It is quite unusual, but in a nice way….. Tasting is an essential blogging task for sure….. and I would hate to reach Boxing Day morning without knowing that breakfast is going to be good! x
Love your photos and this sounds very interesting – I would love to be able to make it vegetarian as I am intrigued but am a bit unsure how it would go – perhaps as a stuffing in a nut roast? (Wonder how it would go in your stuffed nut roast?) I wonder if it is sweet as it is meant to go with quite savoury gravy and vegies? I notice the recipe does not suggest to add much in the way of seasoning – would this help or just make the cake taste odd? I really want to give it a go but not sure I have time this december!
Thank you Johanna. I think it would be really interesting with a nut base, but there is something about the savoury-saltiness of the bacon which offsets the sweetness of the cake slightly, so I guess it would be worth thinking about how to replicate the sweet-savoury combo. I think it would be really good with roasted potatoes and veggies….. I will be testing out to check over Christmas!
I wouldn't add herbs, but salt and pepper are fine. Herbs would be a bit weird I think! x
Wow! That looks fabulous. Not sure I could cope with cake in my stuffing but I'll take your word for the fact that it is good ;)!
Thanks Vicki. I would not have thought of putting cake in stuffing, before trying this one, but it works! x
What an INTERESTING and HOLIDAY PACKED recipe!!!
Thank you. It is certainly full of festive flavours x