Stuffing/Dressing with sausage
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Stuffing/Dressing with sausage
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| Servings |
| 1bag stuffing |
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Ingredients
- 112 oz bag Pepperidge Farm (or other favorite) bag-o-stuffing — Comes in cubed and traditional. I prefer doubling the recipe, using 1 of each.
- 1lb fresh breakfast sausage — Game is best, but store-bought works. I like it HOT, but be respectful of your audience. For store-bought, “Tennessee Pride, Hot” is HOT, “Jimmy Deans Hot” is NOT. “RB Rice Hot” is in between,
- 4tbsp schmaltz — Rendered poultry fat. Or substitute butter
- 2cups poultry stock — Water works, but you loose flavor.
- 2 large diced onions — White or yellow. NOT SWEET.
- 6stalks sliced celery — Not too thick. A food processor makes short work of this. If reserving a third for “crunch”, maybe slice a bit thicker.
- to taste Poultry Seasoning — Don’t be shy!
- 1 large egg — optional. Adds texture.
Instructions
- Dice the onions, slice the celery, optionally reserve a third of the celery aside, and get the stock ready. Sprinkle with salt, mix, and set aside.
- Form sausage into large thin patties. Brown well on both sides over medium-high heat. Mashing under a grill press and chopping it into quarters with the spatula works well.
- Break up the sausage into chunks and remove it from the pan. OK if it isn’t cooked through yet – the point was to brown it. LEAVE ANY LIQUID BEHIND.
- Add the fat or butter to the pan and heat to just bubbling.
- add onions and sauté a minute or so, using something like a flat edged wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the sausage step.
- Add poultry seasoning to taste (don’t be shy!).
- Add the celery except for the reserved third. Sauté until everything loosens up nicely – about 3 or 4 minutes – but not long enough for the onions to start to caramelize.
- Return the browned meat to the pan, mix a minute or so, breaking up any overly large clumps. Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- In a large bowl (REALLY large if you doubled the recipe) mix together the stuffing mix and the sautéed contents of the pan.
- Whisk optional egg into stock.
- Pour the stock over everything, add the reserved celery, mix well.
- Pack into greased/buttered bread or baking pans. Bake uncovered at least 30 minutes.
- Raise oven temp to 450°F (425° if convection). Check every 5 minutes until the top is crunchy and a little browned. Don’t let it burn!
Recipe Notes
Here’s a great morning-after-thanksgiving breakfast idea from my bro-in-law Rex: Scramble eggs, heat up stuffing, mix & serve. Instant sausage eggs and toast from a better planet! Diced turkey meat would be a nice addition. Thigh meat please.