Giada De Laurentiis’ Bacon and Chestnut Stuffing Celebrates the Smoky and Sweet Cured Meat
Bacon is nearly universally loved, even by those who shun pork (lamb, beef, or tempeh bacon, anyone?). Now, Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis gives us another reason to celebrate the salty, crunchy meat.
Her Bacon and Chestnut Stuffing places the cured meat in a starring role alongside buttery, tender chestnuts for a delicious holiday side dish even the pickiest eaters will enjoy. And what’s not to love about that?
Ciabatta bread gives De Laurentiis’ stuffing ‘an Italian flair’
Of course, Italian bread is called for in this recipe and here, De Laurentiis features a loaf of ciabatta bread. “Slowly the bread starts to absorb all the flavors but it will hold its shape and that’s the whole point of using day-old bread,” she says in the Food Network video for this dish).
As well as the rustic bread, the recipe consists of unsalted butter, low sodium chicken broth, chopped smoked bacon (the chef uses thick-cut Applewood bacon), chopped carrots, celery, and onion, chopped fresh rosemary and radicchio, roasted, peeled, and chopped chestnuts, Parmesan cheese, one egg, and of course, the loaf of ciabatta bread that’s been cubed and “left out to dry for 24 hours.” The full recipe and ingredient quantities can be found on the Food Network site.
De Laurentiis said of this stuffing on her lifestyle and food blog Giadzy, “Stuffing is one of those essential holiday side dishes that everyone seems to have their own version of. This version keeps all that traditional flavor we expect in a stuffing, but gets an Italian flair from ciabatta, chestnuts (which are huge in Italy!), Parmesan, and radicchio. Oh, and did I mention bacon?”
How to make Giada De Laurentiis’ Bacon and Chestnut Stuffing
The chef, who will soon be helming new cooking show Simply Giada on Food Network, begins the recipe by cooking the carrots, celery, and onion with the bacon (“It adds so much more flavor”). Salt is added and the vegetables continue to cook until they soften.
Although the vegetables will cook in the oven, De Laurentiis says it’s important to start cooking them in the pan, “otherwise, they’ll be too crunchy later.” The chopped radicchio, chestnuts, and rosemary are added to the skillet and salted. At this point, the heat can be turned off (“The residual heat will start to wilt the radicchio”).
The skillet contents are poured into a large bowl with the cubed bread. One egg is added, “to keep everything together,” as well as one cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and it’s all tossed together.
De Laurentiis says chicken broth can be a secret weapon in the kitchen
Now, the stuffing can be placed into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Two cups of warmed chicken broth are poured over the mix “to keep this nice and moist in the oven while it bakes. And the bread will absorb the chicken broth.” The television personality makes particular note to add that you can never have too much chicken broth: “Make sure you have plenty of chicken broth; it will save the day with gravy, with stuffing, just about anything.”
Place “dots” of butter on top of the stuffing and “tent the whole thing with a little bit of tin foil” in a preheated 375-degree F oven for 30 minutes with the foil on. After that, the foil is removed and the stuffing is baked for another 20 minutes until it browns.
Whether you serve De Laurentiis’ stuffing for a holiday or a weeknight meal, enjoy every bite!
