Please welcome guest author, the inimitable David Leite of Leite’s Culinaria. Looking for a good side for Christmas dinner? David shares one of his favorite recipes from his fabulous cookbook, The New Portuguese Table ~Elise
I know within two bites if a holiday side dish is truly spectacular. Because I’ll have a nearly uncontrollable urge to elbow the turkey or ham off the table, pull the bowl to me, dunk my face in, and not come up for air until I’m finished.
Growing up, the object of my lust was my grandmother’s recheio com chouriço—a kicky bread stuffing studded with piquant chunks of my aunt’s homemade sausage; it was one of the few Portuguese dishes I would eat.
Fending off cousins on both sides of my twisted family tree (there were so many of us we could’ve started our own touring Christmas chorale) wasn’t easy. But I did it, and I have the pictures of me as a corpulent fourth-grader with a self-satisfied grin to prove it.
After living in Portugal for the better part of 2007 researching my book The New Portuguese Table, I discovered this side dish, which is threatening to cause great calamity at our Christmas dinner this year. It’s a mix of chestnuts and large pearl onions sautéed in—what else? the fat of the year, if not the century—bacon drippings.
And for good measure, bits of crispy-chewy, salty-sweet bacon are toss in for good measure. Chestnuts are an important crop in Portugal, where you can find the nut in just about everything from appetizers, to main courses, to desserts.
Confession (and please don’t go telling this story in your New Year’s Weight Watchers’ meetings): sometimes I whip up a batch, which takes all of 20 minutes or so, and eat the whole thing in front of the TV while watching “Dancing with the Stars.” If I want to feel classy and cultured, I use a cloth napkin and watch “Castle.”
I know within two bites if a holiday side dish is truly spectacular. Because I’ll have a nearly uncontrollable urge to elbow the turkey or ham off the table, pull the bowl to me, dunk my face in, and not come up for air until I’m finished.
Growing up, the object of my lust was my grandmother’s recheio com chouriço—a kicky bread stuffing studded with piquant chunks of my aunt’s homemade sausage; it was one of the few Portuguese dishes I would eat.
Fending off cousins on both sides of my twisted family tree (there were so many of us we could’ve started our own touring Christmas chorale) wasn’t easy. But I did it, and I have the pictures of me as a corpulent fourth-grader with a self-satisfied grin to prove it.
After living in Portugal for the better part of 2007 researching my book The New Portuguese Table, I discovered this side dish, which is threatening to cause great calamity at our Christmas dinner this year. It’s a mix of chestnuts and large pearl onions sautéed in—what else? the fat of the year, if not the century—bacon drippings.
And for good measure, bits of crispy-chewy, salty-sweet bacon are toss in for good measure. Chestnuts are an important crop in Portugal, where you can find the nut in just about everything from appetizers, to main courses, to desserts.
Confession (and please don’t go telling this story in your New Year’s Weight Watchers’ meetings): sometimes I whip up a batch, which takes all of 20 minutes or so, and eat the whole thing in front of the TV while watching “Dancing with the Stars.” If I want to feel classy and cultured, I use a cloth napkin and watch “Castle.”
Sautéed Chestnuts, Onions, and Bacon Recipe
Castanhas Salteadas com Toucinho Entremeado
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound thick-sliced slab bacon or pancetta, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips
- 1 pound pearl onions, scant 1 inch in diameter
- 1 pound peeled, roasted chestnuts (vacuum-packed*, jarred without sugar*, or freshly roasted)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish
Read More: Sautéed Chestnuts, Onions, and Bacon
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