Practicing for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been a challenge for my mom. Her game plan includes cooking a turkey for 17 hours, stuffing so dry you literally can't put enough gravy on it (or chug enough chardonnay,) and speaking of gravy... she takes the drippings from the bird, dumps in a box of cornstarch and then tries to hand whisk the lumps into oblivion. (sorry mom!) 

When she insists on hosting this food lovers holiday I insist on bringing the turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, brussel sprouts, gravy, mashed potato's, and dessert. She can make everything else!

I love love love stuffing and can't believe I only eat it twice a year, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm on a quest to create the perfect sausage stuffing.  Usually when I'm trying to create a masterpiece I look at five or six recipes online, take what I like, and then dig into my own culinary repertoire.

Here's what I came up with;

1 medium white onion

6 celery stalks

1 stick of butter

1 package of fresh poultry herbs

1 package of good sage sausage

1 box of chicken broth (turkey if you can find it)

1 bag of bread cubes (the kind that in every grocery store right now, specifically for stuffing)

Dump bread cubes into large mixing bowl.

Saute diced onion and celery in butter until soft (five to seven mins.)

Add sausage to saute and cook throughout.

Add minced herbs. (I minced all the sage, half the leaves of a rosemary stalk, and the leaves of four thyme sprigs.)

Mix thoroughly then pour mixture over bread cubes.

Pour in stock and mix until well incorporated.

Distribute entire mixture evenly in casserole baking dish.

Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes until top of stuffing is brown and toasty.

Mike and I thought the stuffing was delicious but here's how I'm going to improve on this recipe for Thanksgiving.

The Ultimate Sausage Stuffing;

First I'm going to cook off one pound of bacon until crisp. I'll remove the bacon from the saute pan and saute the veggies in the butter and bacon drippings.  I'll also add a diced carrot or two to the saute mixture and a clove of garlic (everything benefits from a little garlic.)  After I add the entire mixture to the bread cubes I'll also crumble the crispy bacon into the mixture.

If you're looking for the "WHOA! What is that?" effect, you could also add a stalk or two of diced fennel to the veggie mixture, or possibly a leaf or two of tarragon.  This will give an ever so slight flavor of anise. Sure to be a show stopper at your Thanksgiving table!

We also made a butternut squash, pear, and onion au gratin. We'll post that recipe in the next day or two.... and since we were making comfort food we also made chicken friend chicken with a rich cream gravy.  

What a delicious meal!