Bacon Wrapped Herbed Sausagemeat Stuffing Roll (can be gluten free)

A moist and delicious way to have your stuffing with roast dinners, with a tasty bacon wrapping.

This is really delicious served with roast dinners such as roast chicken, turkey, guinea fowl or pork Even better, to make life easy, you can even prepare this a day or two in advance so you have less to do on the day! I started making stuffing in a roll like this (too many) years ago, and it was so successful I've carried on, and thought I'd blog it now for posterity (and everyone else to enjoy)!

I do like a bit of stuffing, and/or a couple of 'pigs in blankets' with roast poultry or pork, but I must confess that sometimes my pigs in blankets might get a little too cosy in the oven (I get easily distracted and sometimes they are a little charred if I forget about them for ten minutes)! Wrapping the sausagemeat stuffing in bacon and cooking it this way means that you get all the flavours of pigs in blankets, and stuffing, and you don't need to worry so much about them in the oven, as it's more forgiving and turns out nice and moist inside.

Bigos - Polish Hunter's Stew

This tasty treat is known as Poland's national dish and possibly one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten made with cabbage in it!

I first discovered it... well, let's just say a few years ago (OK, two decades ago!) when I went to the Polish club in Melton with some friends, where they served it at the bar from a huge pot onto paper plates, and you'd get a generous portion with a couple of kabanos sausages on the side. I never knew that cabbage could be so tasty!

Being the curious cook I am, as with many dishes, I felt that I had to replicate it myself with the help of a bit of research, and some tips from a Polish friend, and I have been making it ever since with the odd tweak here and there over the years. Generally speaking, bigos is made with a base of meat (usually a mixture of game and/or pork shoulder, and smoked Polish sausage), sauerkraut and fresh cabbage, and a few other things - although it is said that there are as many recipes for bigos as there are cooks in Poland, so as you can see it is perfectly acceptable to substitute or omit ingredients to your taste!

Now, I like cabbage, but it's not my favourite vegetable cooked, and my other half doesn't even like it. My children are not overly fussed either way. However, by the time this stew has braised, it looks and tastes like no cabbage you have ever had before - an inviting coppery colour, tender and moist with deep, rich smoky flavours from the meat juices, sausage, wine and other delights in there, like the wild mushrooms which add a real depth. Everyone loves it, even the cabbage haters! So, even if you're dubious about it, I urge you to give it a try - you won't regret it and it's a brilliant winter warmer and very convenient to heat up quickly! See the notes at the bottom for slow cooker or pressure cooker suggestions.