Serves 8, 20 minutes preparation, 50 minutes cooking

This delicious and affordable stuffing recipe is delicious as a bacon-covered cake to serve in the middle of the table or rolled into small balls and roasted along with your chosen meat or vegetable roast. 

Ingredients

• 500g Sausage Meat or take the skin off 500g of sausages to use the meat
• 1 large Onion finely chopped
• 2 Celery Sticks, finely chopped
• 100g Breadcrumbs, white or brown
• 50g Walnuts, chopped
• 1 Egg, beaten
• 1tsp dried Sage or 1tbsp fresh Sage Leaves, chopped
• 6-8 rashers rindless streaky Bacon
• 25g unsalted Butter
• 2tbsp Olive Oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200˚C.
2. If you are serving the recipe as a stuffing cake make sure you have a 18-20cm springform cake tin ready to use. Heat the oil and the butter in a frying pan over a moderate heat then gently fry the onion and celery for around 5 minutes until they are softened but not coloured. 
3. Once cooked, tip the onion and celery into a bowl before adding the breadcrumbs, sausage meat, walnuts, and sage. Add a good amount of pepper  but only s little salt (there is already salt in the breadcrumbs, sausages and bacon) then mix together using your hands – this means you can really squash the mixture, making sure everything is combined. Finally, add the egg, then mix well again to create a sticky mixture. 
4. Place the bacon slices in the tin, arranging them neatly making sure they lie up around the sides of the tin, letting the excess hang over the edge. Gently fill the tin with the stuffing mix pushing it down into all the edges then level the top. Fold the bacon over the top of the stuffing, gathering the ends loosely in the centre.
5. Set the tin on a baking sheet (this catch any juices that escape meaning less cleaning time!) then bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is lovely and golden. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for 10 minutes – this makes it much easier to carve up. Finally, remove the stuffing cake onto a serving plate, cut into wedges and serve.