The finishing touch: Mushroom and chestnut stuffing with lime pickle and cashew nuts

Serves 4-6

• 20g dried mushrooms
• 0g fresh brown cap mushrooms
• 0 pointed red peppers
• 250g leeks
• 2 cox’s
• 50g butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp mild lime pickle
• 475g whole peeled chestnuts
• 50g unsalted cashew nuts

Step 1
Keep the juice of the orange to add to the pan juices when roasting the turkey.

Step 2
Peel of 1 large orange, coarsely grated.

Step 3
Put the dried mushrooms into a bowl, pour 150ml very hot water over them and leave to soak for at least an hour.

Step 4
Then slice the mushrooms fairly thinly.

Step 5
Slice the red peppers lengthways, discard the seeds and stem, then chop the flesh into small pieces.

Step 6
Top and tail the leeks and slice thinly across.

Step 7
Cut the apples in half, cut out core and pips and, without peeling, cut the flesh up into small pieces.

Step 8
Melt the butter with the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.

Step 9
Add the prepared fresh mushrooms, red peppers and leeks.

Step 10
Stir around until the ingredients have just softened.

Step 11
Then add the chopped apples, the grated orange peel and the soaked mushrooms, with their soaking water.

Step 12
Increase the heat to high and bubble up for a minute or two, until the liquid has almost, but not quite, evaporated.

Step 13
Remove from the heat and stir in the lime pickle, cashew nuts and drained chestnuts.

Step 14
If necessary, season to taste with black pepper and sea salt.

Step 15
When the stuffing is cold, spoon it into the neck end of the turkey, pull the neck skin over it and secure with a skewer if it needs one.

Step 16
Tip: For scraps of leftover turkey, spoon some mayonnaise into a bowl and stir in a small clove of garlic (pounded to a puree with a little sea salt), freshly ground black pepper and some chopped fresh coriander leaves, tarragon or other herbs.

Step 17
Add the turkey scraps to the mayonnaise and use the mixture to fill baked potatoes, sandwiches or wraps.