Stuffing

Christmas isn't Christmas without stuffing. Though it is a fair and reasonable question to pose whether Stuffing is Stuffing if it isn't stuffed up the vent* of a dead chicken/turkey? One reasonable answer is that the name is still appropriate because after you've gorged on the meal it is you who feels stuffed. This was made on the afternoon of the day before Christmas, simply because it could be and thus gave me one less thing to do in the kitchen on The Day. But if you want to sagely nod and claim that doing so will allow "the flavours to stew, intensify and gain complexity" go right ahead..

Ingredients...

• As luck would have it, a loaf of homemade wholemeal bread had just been finished leaving only the two end crusts from the loaf. Each of these was a fairly thick slice. So...two end slices of bread.
• 6 or so thin slices of onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 medium, firm mushroom
• 1/4 cup of almonds, finely crushed
  
• 1 tablespoon of marinated black olives
  
• 2 teaspoons of light miso
• 2 teaspoons of tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons of chopped, fresh herbs: rosemary, thyme, parsley
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
  
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• Put the kettle onto boil...

Méthode de la fabrication bourrant...

• Breadcrumb the bread slices. In my case, they were torn into medium size pieces and then "wizzed" using the ever useful Bamix.
• Do the same for the mushroom and the olives.
• Combine these with all other dry ingredients into a bowl
• Dissolve the miso and tomato paste in about 1/2 cup of boiled water, and add to the mix
• Add the olive oil, and mix thoroughly
• Place mixture into an appropriately sized and lidded baking dish, squeezing down as you do so to ensure a tight fill.
  
• Pour in additional boiled water to about the halfway level (this was easy in my case as the baking dish was glass so I could see the level).
• Bake, covered for about 45 minutes in a hot oven.
  

* "Vent" is the official name for the common opening that birds have, that is used for reproduction, and for the evacuation of stools and urine.