Call for Stuffing Recipes

[neadods]

Having hosed Christmas dinner two years in a row (long story), Mother decided that we were doing chicken instead of turkey and I decided to spend the next 12 months practicing.

I've learned stock and broth making forwards and backwards (I've got quite the library of them now, waiting in the fridge and freezer for instant soup). I've roasted good chickens both upright and spatchcocked (which is, IMO, better and faster).

Now I need to start learning stuffing, aka dressing in certain parts of the States. It's not that I don't know how, it's that with Dad's heart issues, the family standby (which includes sausage) has been ruled out as having too much salt.

So hit me with your stuffing/dressing recipes! Bread-based, cornbread-based, rice or fruit based - hit me with 'em all.

Comments

[nonelvis]

I make this vegetarian cornbread dressing every year, but it's based on a meat version from Cook's Illustrated. To do the meat option -- which it sounds like you won't, but might as well give you the instructions anyway -- buy a chub of breakfast sausage or some other bulk sausage you enjoy, fry it up before you sauté the veggies, and then remove the sausage from the pan and sauté the veggies in the remaining fat. The recipe should make enough to pack a 9x13 pan.

Anyway:

* Make a 9x13 pan of your preferred cornbread recipe. Crumble it and either allow to dry overnight or spread the crumbles on a large baking sheet and dry out in a 250° oven.

* Slice up about 12oz. of mushrooms, a few stalks of celery, a really big onion, and saute in more fat than is strictly necessary. (I use most of a stick of vegan margarine here, but obviously, you could go for butter.) You could also add soaked dried mushrooms if you like. Season with fresh or dried herbs -- I focus mostly on sage and thyme here, as well as a healthy amount of salt and fresh-ground pepper.

* Remove from heat and mix vegetables (and sausage, if using) with cornbread, moistening with vegetable broth and -- this is the key -- half and half. (Vegan option: soy milk.) You can also add an egg or two if you feel like it, but the point here is you want a mixture that's really wet -- not drowning in liquid, but there should be a little bit of it seeping out along the sides of the bowl or dish you have the dressing in.

* Correct seasoning, and now the other important step -- let it sit overnight in your fridge before cooking. This allows the cornbread to start sucking up some of the creamy half-and-half goodness, while still remaining moist enough to cook up well the next day.

* Before cooking, remove dressing from fridge and let it warm up a bit -- about an hour. Bake in a 350° oven for 30 minutes or until done.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Half and half! That's a new one on me! *scribbles notes madly*