Sunday, November 21, 2010

Sausage Stuffing for Leith and Laura

Many years ago, in an old farm house in the village of Cotuit, I prepared roast chicken with sausage stuffing for two lovely young ladies. They recently requested the recipe to prepare it for their Thanksgiving meal. It warms my heart that this recipe, which I adapted from my great grandmother's stuffing recipe, will now pass to another generation of great cooks.


Sausage Stuffing
(This should make enough for an 18-20 lb turkey)
2 loaves of French country or Italian bread (you can substitute a gluten-free white bread)
1/2 large sweet white onion (diced)
Fresh parsley
2 lbs of high quality pork sausage
Chicken stock
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2 eggs (beaten)

Break the break into small pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Saute the onion in butter, or vegetable oil, until translucent. Chop parsley (2 tbls). Remove the sausage from the casing, break it apart, and saute with the onions until just browned (3-5 minutes).  Add the onions, parsley, sausage, and walnuts to the bread. I think the nuts are a key ingredient, but understand that some people can't tolerate them. The stuffing will still be very tasty without them. Add the eggs and enough chicken stock to moisten the stuffing. It should be wet, but not dripping. Wash your turkey and stuff the cavity right before roasting. If you have any extra stuffing you can bake it in a small casserole dish, covered, for 45 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 10 minutes to brown the top.

Note: It is perfectly fine to cook stuffing inside the turkey. It actually tastes much better that way. Just remember to stuff the turkey right before roasting. You can also prepare your stuffing the day before. Store it in a container until you're ready to stuff and roast the bird.

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