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.” Season with salt and plenty of pepper and then scoop into a decorate bowl. Sprinkle with the parsley.
