Cook the chestnuts: Cut a groove on each chestnut and roast them on thestove (if you've got an electric stove, placing the chestnuts on the burnerwill do the trick, though you'll have to do some cleaning afterwards.) Whenthey're done, peel them. Watch your hands. Brown the beef with half the butter. Add the rice, salt and a littlewater, and let it cook on low heat, until the water is absorbed.

Boil the liver, mince it and add it into the rice and meat. Add thealmonds, prunes, raisins, chestnuts (cut in chunks) and pine nuts. Add asmall amount of water and let everything simmer until the water isabsorbed.

The stuffing is ready to use. Add the remaining butter and bake it. Iusually wrap the stuffing in aluminum foil, put it in a separate pan andbake it along with the chicken. When the chicken is ready, the stuffing isready too!

NOTES:

* Holiday stuffing with fruit and nuts -This is an elaborate version ofthe type of poultry stuffing made in Greece. People there have never heardof bread stuffings and, once you taste this recipe, you'll never want tohear about bread stuffings either! I got the recipe from my mother, who gotit from a friend, who got it from her sister-in-law, who... Yield: stuffs5-6 lb poultry.

* If the chestnut-roasting procedure is to messy for you, then just boilthem.

* The amounts in the ingredients list are there for completeness' sake.

You should really interpret them as a few, a handful or one small package.

The only thing you have to bear in mind is that putting more prunes willmake the stuffing sourer, and putting more raisins will make it sweeter.