A Tale of Two Stuffings … er… Dressings?

This was originally shared in the Nov. 2011 Newsletter

Here are two recipes for stuffing and dressing.

In my house we have ‘dressing’.  Dressing is usually thick and dense, full of herbs and onions.  My Old Fashioned recipe is soft and savory, delicious in every way!

Stuffing is usually put into the turkey before roasting.  Extra stuffing is baked in a casserole dish and served on the side.  Because the stuffing is ‘stuffed’ into the bird, its usually a little more loose and crumbly than dressing. This Stuffing recipe is full of texture and color. Its sweet and savory with cranberries and walnuts.

Old Fashioned Dressing….. is there any better flavor? Like most truly Southern recipes, this is a dish that has to be watched and worked at to perfect. Dressing is very forgiving. You can add and change ingredient amounts until it suits your own taste.

Tip about the cornbread and biscuits you’ll use:  Bake the biscuits and cornbread with little grease in the pan and don’t brown them if possible. Crunchy cornbread and brown biscuits are great usually but in dressing you don’t want the dark brown crunchy parts!

Here’s my recipe.

This recipe can be doubled or even tripled easily

Ingredients:
About 12 biscuits, crumbled to make 4 cups, pick out any hard crusts. OR you can use your favorite homemade bread.
About 1 8×8 pan of cornbread, crumbled to make 4 cups, pic out any hard crusts
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth, heated to HOT (More if needed)
1 can Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup OR use your homemade cream-of soup.
3 raw eggs
1 teaspoon dried sage (optional)
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning ( or to taste )

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a small saucepan, combine onion, celery, margarine and chicken broth. Bring to boil and cook vegetables until tender.

Lightly grease a 2-quart casserole dish. In a large bowl, combine 4 cups crumbled cornbread, 4 cups biscuit crumbs, salt, pepper, raw eggs and herbs..

Stir in cooked vegetables and HOT broth, stir until combined. Stir in the Cream of Chicken Soup.

The dressing should be loose and have a lot of moisture in it but not completely liquid. Add more broth if needed. You could even add more cornbread or biscuits if you think its too liquid-y but it’s probably not going to be.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 – 60 minutes or until golden brown and not sloppy in the center. It should be just barely firm to the touch in the center like a cake when it is done.

Delicious Stuffing! Filled with cranberries, sausage, walnuts and apples, this stuffing will be the perfect accompaniment to your Thanksgiving turkey. You can use any kind of sausage you like, even turkey sausage!

1 1/2 cups cubed whole wheat bread
3 3/4 cups cubed white bread
1 pound ground sausage
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped celery
2 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and
chopped
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1 cooked turkey liver, finely chopped (You can omit it,but the stuffing won’t taste quite the same)
3/4 cup turkey stock
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degree F
Spread the white and whole wheat bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until evenly toasted.
Put the toasted cubes in a large bowl and set aside.
In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat. Break up the sausage with a spoon into small pieces as it cooks.
Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme; cook,stirring for about 3 minutes.
Pour sausage mixture over bread in bowl. Mix in chopped apples, dried cranberries, parsley, and liver. Drizzle with turkey stock and melted butter, and mix lightly. Spoon into turkey to loosely fill. Roast stuffed turkey as directed. To bake extra stuffing, grease a casserole dish, add stuffing, bake til lightly golden.

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