I don't cook a lot of things but the things I cook I do pretty well. For the last several years this has been a family favorite for holidays at our home. It's pretty simple and can easily be made ahead of time.
I'm one of those people who doesn't really follow a recipe so creating one is a new challenge for me. But I have a few special ones to share and I'm hoping to do this monthly for our newsletter subscribers. One of the things I love to do when cooking is take a few staple ingredients and put my own spin on things. That's what I've done with this stuffing recipe.
I start with simple ingredients. I love Costco. Major love. When we moved from Boise to Sioux Falls 10 years ago one of the things I missed most was Costco. It was the first place I ever took all 3 kids on my own. I'd have Sam and Leona in the cart and Gabe on my back. Those sample ladies knew us by name and the photo finishing crew couldn't wait to see what card I'd make next of the kids.
I use 1 large container of mushrooms and 2 sweet onions. I use 1 Sage Sausage and then I use another regular pork sausage. The other sausage came from Grandpa Stave. We're so grateful for his meat purchases. This sausage was processed using a lot of ham ground into it so when it's browned it looks quite pink. It tastes delicious. If you can get sausage from a local butcher I would highly recommend it.
Chop up the mushrooms and onions. While I've been editing I love to watch documentaries and one of the things I've been watching is Gordon Ramsey on Amazon Prime. He has a video of how to chop and onion that has me crying a lot less when I chop them up! My eyes are overly sensitive and I tear up so easily chopping them so this has been really helpful. Check it out here.
Brown the sausage. I've got 2.5 pounds of sausage here. The pink is actually browned but because there is a lot of ham in the sausage it doesn't look very brown.
Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon. Leave the fat from the sausage at the bottom. Add in the mushrooms and onions and cook until browned and onions are translucent. About 5 minutes before they are finished add in 1 tablespoon of garlic and some cracked pepper. Garlic doesn't need a lot of time to cook. If you don't have enough fat from the sausage add in some Ghee. I love cooking with Ghee because it's basically butter that doesn't burn.
I'm always amazed at home much mushrooms and onions cook down from a giant pile to a small amount of ingredients. Also if there is some liquid left in the pan don't drain that. Some of it is fat from the sausage, some juice from the onions and some from the extra ghee. It will be absorbed later and helps keep everything moist and gives lots of extra flavor.
Feel very sorry for Josie the Beagle. Try not to trip over her as she keeps her nose to the floor looking for any amount of scraps that fall like manna from heaven.
Combine the sausage and mushrooms together. Try not to eat it. It's delicious. Take off the burner and set aside.
Take 2 cartons of chicken stock and 3 bags of stuffing. I like to mix and match my stuffing options. Some with cubes, some with different seasonings. You do whatever makes you happy and whatever flavors you like best. I used all 3 of these this time.
Bring the chicken stock and a stick of butter to a boil.
Dump in the bags of stuffing, stir for a bit and put the lid on letting it sit for 5 minutes.
That's certainly the easiest part. Next, mix the bread and stuffing mixture with the sausage mixture.
If I were serving this immediately I'd leave it in my Dutch Oven pot and put it in the oven for 45 minutes or so. I'd pull the lid for another 45 minutes and let it get crispy on top.
Because this is for Thanksgiving at my mom's place the ovens will be full. So I'm going to put mine in the crock pot. Thanksgiving morning I'll put it on for about 4 hours. At 2 hours I'll check to see if the stuffing is getting too dry. If it is I'll add some extra chicken stock (heat it up first).
This makes a large batch of sausage and fills up my 6 quart crockpot. You could certainly cut this recipe in half to accommodate your family. I'd love to hear if your family loves this as much as we do! Happy Thanksgiving!
0 Comments