My Ciabatta Stuffing with Chestnuts and Pancetta is a delicious new take on a Thanksgiving Classic. I love the chunks of rustic Ciabatta bread mix with sauté Pancetta and vegetables. The woodsy tastes of chestnuts and salty Parmesan cheese are what make the dish. Ciabatta Stuffing with Chestnuts and Pancetta is good enough to become a family tradition.
You can’t have Thanksgiving without stuffing and this is my awesome version of Italian Stuffing. And one of the things I like to add is some Pancetta. Now ,Pancetta is Italian bacon basically, except that it’s has also flavored with garlic and peppercorns which makes it even better and even tastier. But of course, you could substitute with just plain all bacon. And I’m just going to cut in cubes and then will brown it up until it crisp. Now, I’m going to put a little bit of butter in my sauté pan and this stuffing has butter in it. I love the butter with the bread and all the vegetables. And while that browns, I’m going to start with my vegetables through onions. I like to have chunky pieces, so I’m not going to finely chop them.
Now, we need two carrots they are tender, they are sweet. Alright, let me take a look of Pancetta, oh looks nice. They’re nice and brown; it is going to be so yummy. We’re ready to add our onions, that’s on the pan and little bit more butter. You can use butter and I’m using some butter. I want to add a little bit of salt and some black pepper.
So, we’ll let that cook down a little bit and then we’ll add the carrots and the celery. I’m adding three stocks of fresh celery, and all that in, we’ll cook those for a little bit until they become tender. Let me get my garlic ready. We’re going to use two cloves of garlic. Now, it needs some fresh herbs and I’m going to use some rosemary, two tablespoons of fresh rosemary.
We’re going to let that cook. Now, I’ve got a loaf of Ciabatta bread, and the Ciabatta bread is very thin and Ciabatta in Italian means slipper. We’re going to cut the two ends off and I’m not going to use them because they’re lot dryer than the center. So, lets going to cut the ends off save those for later. And slice the bread and then cut it into cubes, and this is day old bread so its dried out a little bit. And you could use salad old bread, a baguette; you could use whole wheat bread if you want it too. But Ciabatta is my favorite and this is basically when my mom mix it using Ciabatta. So this is the way I will make it. Just cut them in cubes, about a half to three quarter inch. I love using deli bread for this because it absorbs the flavors so well and the pieces hold there shape.
For now, we can use some Parmesan cheese freshly grated; have the Parmigiano-Reggianno and some nice crispy bits Pancetta. Cut more things I’ve got to add to my vegetables, chestnuts. Now, if you’ve ever have chestnut before, chestnut has sort of the texture of the baked potato, but they’re slightly sweet and they have sort of a very mild spicy flavor. You can cook and peel your own chestnuts or you can do sided. You can buy them in a jar and ready to eat.
Okay, I’m just going t chop them a little bit. We’re going to add it to our vegetables and some parsley. And we’ll toast it right in there, and just combine all of these ingredients. Now, I’m going to beat my eggs. And the eggs will bind the stuffing together. So, a couple of eggs. Eggs beat and I’m ready to toast all my ingredients together. I like to use about a cup or so of chicken stock, it gives the stuffing more flavor and it keeps it moist. I’ll pour the stuffing into a butter baking dish and I buttered the foil as well, buttered side down, so that the stuffing doesn’t stick to the foil. I’m going to bake it at 350 for 30 minutes and then I’m going to peel off the foil and let it bake in another 15 minutes until its golden brown on top. Let’s take a look at the stuffing, oh it’s ready. Wow! The bread looks crispy, it’s brown and it smells so good.
Every family has its Thanksgiving traditions, but you don’t always have to serve the same old thing.