Wonderful "spin" on traditional holiday dressing. Sure to be a hit year after year.
For some time I have been looking for a good recipe for dressing that is not stuffed in the bird, but baked separately. I would appreciate any that anyone can pass on. Thanks.
By glenda eileen lockhart from Nova Scotia
www.southernliving.com/
Also use the search box on this website:
You can use this recipe from scratch or use the non-bread ingredients to jazz up a mix. I prefer from scratch, but
younger generations come close with mix plus extras (cornbread one in box). This makes a large amount, for a turkey in the 20+ pound range, and contains no meat.
I use mushrooms, celery, carrots, onion, one large clove garlic, fresh sage leaves if I have it, dried sage if I don't, crumbled or chopped, bay leaf or two, marjoram and thyme and a bit of rosemary are nice, black pepper, chicken bouillon cubes (I recommend the large soft ones, Knorr type), butter and oil, and some of broth from simmering the giblets and neck of turkey on stove for a couple of hours with a carrot, celery stock, bay leaves, etc. For large recipe I'd use 3 small carrots and couple stalks celery and one large onion. Everything should be in amounts according to family's likes and dislikes.
And for bread there are two choices: two loaves ordinary bread, one white, one wheat, or 1 recipe cornbread cooked and taken out of pan to dry out a bit (night before or few hours before), plus the other bread choices, but you won't use all of the 2 if you add cornbread so you can use just one of either kind. We're talking longer loaves, not the small 1 pound loaves. The cornbread should be for a small size pan, about 8x8 and of course you can use a corn bread mix if you'd like. We use 1 box jiffy mix, though I've done it from scratch, and found the mix a better.
Cube with knife or pull into small pieces, the bread without the crusts. Break the cornbread into somewhat larger pieces. Put all on cookie sheet and put into low oven, 200 degrees or less for a while, checking to see when they feel a little dry. Not as dry as croutons, but a little crusty, crunchy, but not browned, just dried. Or you can put in oven night before for 15-20 minutes and turn off and leave oven door cracked so can dry overnight or just take pan out and set up somewhere to dry overnight.
Meanwhile mince the onion, celery, carrots into small pieces, about 1/4 inch. Mushrooms should be fairly fine as well. Saute lightly in large pan with a bit of oil and butter. Enough so it won't stick. Don't cook too long. Set aside until bread is dry enough and cool. Get out large bowl. Put breads into bowl and crumble any large chunks of cornbread. Put pan back on medium heat and add a cup of water, a cup of the giblet broth (you can chop giblets and add if you want, our family prefers not, the dog gets the giblets) and start with a 1/2 bouillon cube if large, 1 if small. Add the spices and the mushrooms and simmer 5 minutes. Taste. If it needs more bouillon, add and dissolve. Salt and pepper to taste if needed. See how many crumbs you have in the bowl. If it's a huge amount, add 1 cup boiling water to veggie mixture.
Now here is a choice point. People used to add 1-2 scrambled eggs to dressing to hold it together, which made it kind of dense. I also think it adds to the possibility of food poisoning, so I don't do it anymore.
Toss all ingredients from pan with crumbs in bowl, and toss lightly with 2 spoons. Check to see if it needs more moisture. Probably won't. Put in a buttered pan, cover with foil and pop in oven for about 40 minutes and remove foil if you want it to crisp a bit before serving.
This is a tinker recipe. I loved dressing, don't like it so much anymore, but I used to put my heart and soul into it.
Make it yours. If you are having a smaller turkey, definitely cut all of above by half. 6-8 slices each kind of bread, one small cornbread, 1/2 a large onion, and so on.
This is the recipe that my late Mother used and I have been using it for years.
Does anyone have a recipe for stuffing that is baked in the oven instead of the turkey that turns out crunchy? I remember having this as a kid at a relatives house, it was so good, but don`t know how it was prepared.
An idea for you--
Make your stuffing how you might normally make it... but then pull it out of the turkey or the pan that you are baking it in and put it in a roasting pan.
I've always just put regular recipe stuffing mix in a shallow baking dish at 350 degrees for 30-45 min because inside the bird is too moist for my taste. Also, Rachael Ray demo'd this on her TV show yesterday: add a beaten egg to preferred stuffing recipe and mix; put scoopfuls in greased muffin tin and bake for crunchy "stuffing muffins". Go to her website for details.
any stuffing recipe that isn't too wet and baked in a shallow pan or muffin tins should have a "crusty" texture.
Have you tried crockpot stuffing? I find it gets crunchy on top and is moist on the bottom, something for everyone.
Crock Pot Stuffing
2 cups chopped onions
In a large fry pan saute onions, celery and apple in butter until onion is just translucent.
Stir in sage, marjoram, salt, pepper, savory and thyme.
Combine vegetable mixture with the bread cubes and parsley.
Toss well.
Pour stock over mixture, tossing well.
Spoon into your crock-pot.
Cover and cook on high for one hour.
Reduce to low and continue cooking for 2-3 hours,
* If you have vegetarians in the crowd use vegetable stock.
MY HUSBAND MADE STUFFING AND PUT IT IN MUFFIN TINS. IT WAS SO GOOD AND JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF CRUNCHY NESS TO IT. PERFECT SERVING SIZE TOO
Here is my recipe
in butter cook 1/2 onion
1/2 cup celery until clear.
In large bowl combine onion, celery,
l pkg. corn bread stuffing mix
l pkg.cubed stuffing mix, herb seasoned.
pinch of sage, pinch of thyme
l can chicken broth
mix all together and spread on to cookie sheet
Bake 350-375 for 30 min or until dry and crunchy.
We take a large iron skillet and bake one or 2 of the cake type of cornbread, no sugar in the recipe. Crumble this in a large dishpan or bowl and add however many pieces of dried, day-old bread or toast to this you need to feed your crowd. Much of this depends on how many you are serviing. We usually have a large crowd, 20 to 30 or more. Dice a stalk of celery, or less for your needs, a large onion, and add these to the bread mixture. Pour a large can of store-bought chicken broth or the broth off your turkey. Mash all this together to a fine consistency. Season w/salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and - it's always a debate every year - we add sage. We don't measure any of these really - liberal w/the salt and pepper, poultry seas, and light on the sage. Part of our ritual is tasting the "raw" dressing for more or less of the seasoning. You want enough broth for the mixture to be a little soupy, but not overly so. This will create a crunchy "dressing" rather than "stuffing". My mother in law creates the exact same thing, but hates lumpy food, so she runs her celery and onions thru the blender to puree them. I don't think she puts sage in hers, though. I love them both. I hope this helps some. Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!
This recipe is delicious when used to stuff your birds for the holidays whether it be a turkey, chicken or, as we did for Thanksgiving Cornish Hens. It is very versatile, as you can also use it to make a casserole from the leftover turkey or chicken.
I would not eat stuffing because I don't like onions. The first dinner I had with my new in-laws was Thanksgiving. When my mother-in-law set the big bowl of stuffing on the table, I thought it looked so good and smelled so good that I sampled it.
I buy seafood stuffing at my local supermarket, that I love. It has breadcrumbs, imitation crab meat, seasonings, and butter. I have tried to make my own and it does not taste great. Does anybody have a tasty recipe for me? Thank you.
By gladys hernandez from Chelsea, MA
Try this different stuffing dish with spinach and cheese.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C). Lightly butter a 2-quart casserole dish. Cover raisins with boiling water and let sit for 5 minutes. Drain well, then toss them with the bread cubes.
