This works well with the Christmas goose, turkey or pork. You will have enough for one large bird or joint of pork.
30g of butter, six rashers of streaky bacon (diced), one large onion (finely chopped), 220g of chestnuts (peeled and cooked, roughly chopped), 200g of prunes (roughly chopped), 200g of fresh breadcrumbs, the zest of one lemon, the juice of half a lemon, four large, meaty sausages, skinned and cut into 2cm chunks, one tablespoonful of thyme leaves or chopped fresh sage, three tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley, one teaspoonful of freshly grated nutmeg, two tablespoonfuls of dark rum (optional), a small piece of fresh ginger (finely chopped or grated), sea salt, freshly ground pepper, one large egg (beaten) and another egg to hand just in case.
Melt the butter in a large pan. Quickly fry the bacon and remove it to a large mixing-bowl. On a lower heat, cook the onion until it is soft. Put the onion, together with any fat from the pan, with the bacon and leave it all to cool. Once cooled, mix in the chestnuts, prunes, breadcrumbs, lemon zest and juice, sausage, herbs, nutmeg and, if using, rum and ginger. Season it with salt and pepper and mix in the beaten egg. It should bind together loosely, but if you want a mixture that sticks together more than that, add another beaten egg.