Name: Sage, leek & onion balls
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: Makes 16 small balls, plus 250g extra to stuff a 5kg turkey
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 4 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil; 2 onions finely chopped; 1 leek finely sliced into rings; 2 celery sticks, finely chopped; 450g pack good-quality pork sausage meat squeezed out; 20g pack sage leaves finely chopped; 140g white breadcrumb; 1 large egg; 8 smoked dry-cured streaky bacon rashers, halved and stretched out a bit; sage sprig, to garnish (optional)

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Sage, leek & onion balls

Sage, leek & onion balls

Good Food team

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Makes 16 small balls, plus 250g extra to stuff a 5kg turkey

Easy

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 1 hr

A star rating of 5 out of 5.16 ratingsRate

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Too good to be kept for Christmas, why not make double of these stuffing balls and keep some in the freezer?

Easily halved

Freezable

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Herb-roast turkey

A star rating of 4.7 out of 5.3 ratings

Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

4 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
2 onions

finely chopped
1 leek

finely sliced into rings
2 celery

sticks, finely chopped
450g pack good-quality pork sausage

meat squeezed out
20g pack sage

leaves finely chopped
140g white breadcrumb
1 large egg
8 smoked dry-cured streaky bacon

rashers, halved and stretched out a bit
sage

sprig, to garnish (optional)

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Nutrition: per serving

kcal131
fat9g
saturates2g
carbs8g
sugars1g
fibre0g
protein6g
salt0.72g

low

Method

step 1

Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then soften the onions, leek and celery for 15 mins with the pan covered. Put the sausagemeat into a bowl. Once the onion mix has cooled, tip onto the sausagemeat, add the sage, bread, egg and seasoning, then mix really well with your hands.
step 2

Set aside 250g to stuff the turkey, then shape the rest into 16 balls, wrapping each with bacon. Sit these on a non-stick baking sheet, cover with foil, then bake for 15 mins. Uncover, then bake 30 mins more until the bacon is golden. Garnish with a sage sprig, if you like.

RECIPE TIPS

PREPARE AHEAD

The stuffing can be made up to 48 hrs ahead and chilled immediately. Remove from the fridge just before cooking. Alternatively, freeze for up to a month – defrost completely in the fridge before cooking. Once cooked, it will keep in a low oven, or can be reheated, covered with foil for 20 mins, while the turkey is resting.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2009

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A star rating of 5 out of 5.16 ratings

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