Thanksgiving Sausage Stuffing

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Step 2

In a heavy (cast iron) or non-stick pan, brown the sausage with some salt and pepper and a little sage & parsley. Feel free to add other seasonings if you wish, but I like to keep it simple since the sausage is usually pre-seasoned. Add oil to aid in the browning. I used a combination of canola and olive oil. Once the sausage has browned on medium heat (about 15-20 minutes), remove from pan (put into a glass bowl or plate of your choice). Whatever you do, keep those tasty sausage juices!

Step 3

Conserve the fat and browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add 2 tbsp. butter and a little oil (a couple of swirls will do just fine). Add finely chopped mirepoix (onion, celery and carrots) with a little salt and pepper to taste. Add sherry wine to “deglaze” and add flavor to the mirepoix. Saute mirepoix until softened; usually around 10-12 minutes.

Step 4

Add cooked sausage and mirepoix together and cook until warm. In separate (large) bowl, add the stuffing cubes, sausage/mirepoix mix, milk, broth, 1 stick (8 tbsp) of melted butter,sage & parsley to your liking and mix until combined and the bread cubes are moist. Add more milk or broth as needed.

Step 5

Add stuffing mix to greased/non-stick casserole dish. Tamp down. Wrap with aluminum foil. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove foil from casserole dish and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Ideally you’re looking for a nice soft crust on top.

Step 6

Serve immediately or wrap with aluminum foil and keep on warm until ready to serve.

Recipe and photos from http://phillygrub.wordpress.com