Name: Pollin cont el pien (Turkey with Sausage and Fruit Stuffing)
Yield: Serves 8 to 10
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: ¼ cup diced pancetta; 2 cups dried bread crumbs, or as needed; 1 to 1½ cups crumbled cooked chestnuts; ⅓ cups grated Parmesan cheese; 1 or 2 eggs; Melted unsalted butter for basting; Freshly grated nutmeg; 2 sweet sausages, casings removed and meat crumbled; 1 cup pitted prunes; 2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced or cut into 1-inch chunks; Salt; 1 turkey, 10 to 12 pounds, with liver, reserved; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; Dry white wine; 2 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced or cut into 1-inch chunks

Preparation info

Serves
8 to 10

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Italian Slow and Savory

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 2004

About

In Milan, pollin is dialect for “turkey,” a word said to derive from the cry of the bird: “poll poll.” Stuffed and roasted turkey used to be served primarily at Christmas in Lombardy, but now it has entered the mainstream of celebratory dishes. This is a particularly festive recipe with a wonderful rich stuffing. Adam, my-grandson-the-gourmet who claims he does not like prunes, ate more stuffing than turkey when I served this, so I know it is a hit.