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| Holiday Fruit & Sausage Stuffing |
I am stuck in the middle of loving to try new recipes and wanting to have all my holiday meals include the exact same things I loved since I was a little girl.
I adored my mom's sage stuffing - and I mean stuffing - all up in the turkey, health risks be darned! It was the one thing I looked forward to on Christmas and New Year's Day. I'm pretty sure I asked for it on my birthday, but mom convinced me that you couldn't roast a turkey on non-holidays. I don't hold it against her - it's a LOT of work...but OH, so worth it!
Anyway, by the time I was making my own Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, I lived 1500+ miles away from mom and she did not have the traditional mom-commitment to communicating with her only child that you see in all the Lifetime movies! So, even though I asked and asked - even when we were home for summer vacations - I never got that recipe. So, it was up to me to find my own.
I am pleased to say, I found it on the 2nd try. Pier 1 used to give out these "Food and Wine Cookbooks" during the holidays when you purchased certain things (or spent a certain amount - who can remember!?). I got the regular and the holiday version. The recipe came from the holiday version. It was an Apricot and Sausage Stuffing recipe that I have been tweaking for the past 12 years or so. Today I am going to record it for posterity - just in case one of my kids wants to recreate a piece of their childhood at their holiday table.
So, here's what you need.
My first step is always choosing the bread - usually one loaf of challa and one of Italian. Brioche works great, but is difficult for me to find. I cut off the crusts, cut the bread into bite-sized cubes (I'll let you be the judge of how large or small that is - warming! if the bites are too big, the dressing isn't as good. I toast the bread in a low oven, tossing it frequently on a couple of sheet pans, until it is dried out, but not browned. Then I put it back in the bags it came in until I need it - this can be done up to 3 days ahead.
The day before the big feast, you can put together the stuffing in a buttered casserole dish. (this recipe makes one 9 X13 dish, plus leaves enough to freeze and have a 9X9 pan later!) You need 4 (or so) ounces of your 2 favorite dried fruits (or you can use a mix of more than 2) - this year we used dried apricots and dried cherries. You chop them into 1/2 inch bites, place them in a bowl and cover them with warm apple juice (probably just over a cup).
Time to start cooking! Melt a stick of butter in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. While the butter is melting, dice one medium yellow onion and add to the pan. Cook the onion until softened, but not browned (takes about 10-15 minutes of patient, slow cooking and a bit of stirring).
Put your cubed bread into one giant bowl or 2 large bowls where you will mix up the ingredients. Pour the onion and butter mixture over the bread and toss to combine.
Now, grab 2 logs of breakfast sausage (I used one HOT and one Maple) and brown them up in the same pan you used for the onion. Break up the sausage while browning. As soon as the sausage is cooked through, but not gotten much color, pour the fruit and apple juice into the pan and cook over low heat for about 5-10 minutes. At the end add salt and pepper to taste, 1 T fresh thyme, finely chopped and 1/2 - 1 cup of chopped pecans (feel free to leave this out if your family doesn't love nuts...I have been working them in more and more every year as the kids get a bit older because I love them).
Then you mix the sausage mixture into the bread mixture and combine. If it seems a bit dry, add warmed chicken stock (or any stock, for that matter - OR a mix of chicken stock and apple juice) to get it where you like it.
At this point you pour it all into the buttered casserole dish and cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. I can usually get about 2/3 into the casserole dish and the rest I put in a zip lock freezer bag and put it in the freezer so I can satisfy my stuffing cravings at non-holiday times!
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes covered with foil and 10 minutes uncovered. It is the best thing I make! I hope you love it if you try it!
My tweaked Fruit and Sausage Holiday Stuffing
8 oz of dried fruit (use you faves - I like 4 oz apricots and 4 oz dried cherries)
8 oz apple juice
1 stick unsalted butter
1 med. diced yellow onion
1 loaf butter bread (Challa or Brioche work well)
1 loaf of any other bread you like (I used Italian)
1 reg log Maple breakfast sausage
1 reg log Hot breakfast sausage
1 cup chopped pecans
1 T finely chopped fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Warmed chicken stock in case you need extra moisture
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