I have gone to a hair salon owned by a lovely Greek family for many years. Beyond being a relaxing experience to just be there, we often discuss food and new restaurants- it’s great. After hearing about this Greek Thanksgiving stuffing for almost as many years, I finally got the treasured family recipe. 🙂
This dish is reminiscent of one of my son’s favorite rice and meat dishes, Thai One-Pot, with a Greek twist. It incorporates cinnamon, raisins, roasted chestnuts, as well as pine nuts.
My friends eat it as part of their Thanksgiving feast, but it is also hearty enough to be served as a main course. We ate it for dinner with roasted broccoli on the side. I modified the original recipe by using fresh mushrooms and ground turkey instead of ground beef. It was very unique and delicious!
Yield: Serves 6 to 8 as a main dish
- 4 T unsalted butter
- 1 cup chopped celery (about 3 stalks)
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 cup flat parsley, chopped, plus more for garnish
- 24 oz white button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup white Basmati rice
- 2 1/2 cups chicken or turkey stock
- 13 oz organic roasted, peeled chestnuts, crumbled lightly
- 1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 1/4 pound ground turkey or ground beef
- 1 turkey liver or 2 chicken livers, finely chopped
- 1-2 T ground cinnamon
- coarse salt
- 1/2 T freshly ground black pepper
- Melt the butter in a 14-inch skillet.
- Add the chopped celery and onion; sauté over medium heat for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add the parsley, and continue to sauté for another minute.
- Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Meanwhile, prepare the rice: In a medium pot, bring chicken stock, rice, and 1/2 tsp salt to a simmer. Add the chestnuts, crushed tomatoes, pine nuts, raisins, and cinnamon stick; mix. Cover and cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes. (I used an enameled cast iron pot so that I could use it to finish the dish.)
- While the rice is cooking, add the olive oil to the hot 14-inch skillet, followed by the ground meat and chopped liver.
- Season the meat with 1 T salt, 1/2 T black pepper, and 1 T ground cinnamon. Cook until no longer pink, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- When the rice is tender, remove the cinnamon stick.
- Add the onion, celery, and mushroom mixture to the cooked meat, followed by the cooked rice mixture. Stir to incorporate.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.
thebrookcook 