Sausage and crouton stuffing

Cube a whole loaf of bread into half inch cubes, spread over a couple of sheet trays and dry in the oven at its lowest setting, 200F here, tossing and rotating until completely dry; or leave the bread out overnight to stale.

Mix the ground pork with kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder and the finely chopped fresh sage; cover and refrigerate.

Finely chop the onion, carrots and celery for the mirepoix and mince the sage and thyme, setting everything out before cooking.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in the biggest Dutch oven and brown the sausage, mashing it into bite-sized pieces; a little pink in the middle is fine.

Fish the sausage out with a slotted spoon and saute the mirepoix in the rendered pork fat with two tablespoons of butter for five or six minutes, until softened and coloured.

Warm four cups of stock in a separate saucepan.

Add the thyme, sage and crushed garlic and saute about 30 seconds until fragrant.

Deglaze the pot with a little of the stock, scraping the browned bits off the bottom.

Return the sausage, add the chopped roasted chestnuts if using, and mix through.

Add the croutons with about half the remaining warm stock, just enough to saturate the bread, adding it gradually; taste, season generously with kosher salt and pepper and add more stock or croutons as needed.

Cover and keep warm; it can be reheated on the stove top or crisped in the oven before serving.