Sarasota's 37 Year Old Turkey Stuffing Recipe |
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Prep Time: 45 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes |
Ready In: 75 Minutes Servings: 24 |
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Now this wasn't exactly my grandmas, but close. I have revamped her recipe a bit, but still use her classic recipe in other dishes. But this recipe, is what I have made, ever since I was twelve years old when I cooked my first Turkey Day Dinner. Yes I was only 12, honestly! It isn't traditional in that it is all cornbread, or all herb stuffing and has a little of everything, but, people can't eat enough of it. I just call it my all around comfort stuffing. The only thing is to check is with any guests if they can't eat nuts, because I do add them. Now this makes a lot. I stuff the turkey, plus make a large pan on the side. I love to freeze the leftover stuffing as I can use it in chicken breasts, Cornish hens, even a pork tenderloin, and use it for open faced leftover turkey sandwiches, or just serve with some roasted chicken. I bag it up in quart size ziplock bags and it keeps 3-4 months and it is a great, 2 minute in the microwave heat up side dish. You can easily cut this recipe in half. Ingredients:
1 lb mild sausage (i just use jimmy dean or any bulk sausage) |
2 large onions, chopped |
2 cups celery, chopped (leaves chopped too) |
2 cups mixed mushrooms, thin sliced |
1/2 cup butter |
1 cup pecans, chopped fine |
17 cups breadcrumbs, mixed (7 cups herbed cubes-pepperidge farm or any brand, 5 cups corn bread-pepperidge farm or any brand, 5 ) |
2 cups milk |
1 quart chicken broth (or less) |
salt |
pepper |
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning (or mixture of sage, savory, thyme and marjoram too) |
Directions:
1. Sausage - In a very large pot, I usually use my big dutch oven for this or you can use 2 large sauce pans and make this ahead and just refrigerate over night. One less thing to do on Turkey Day.
2. Add 2 tablespoons butter and melt on medium heat. Add in the sausage and slowly brown.
3. Vegetables - Then in the same pan with the sausage, melt the remaining butter on medium to medium low heat, then add in the onions, celery, mushrooms, nuts and cook 10-15 minutes, just slowly, don't rush them. Add in the seasoning and mix well.
4. Bread - In a small bowl, add the milk and soak the fresh bread slices and then squeeze out most of the milk. Then break up the fresh bread into crumbs until you have 3 cups. Add the fresh bread crumbs to a large bowl, along with the cornbread and herb stuffing cubes. Mix to combine.
5. Then add in the sausage and vegetable mix and 3 cups of chicken broth and once again, mix well. Add a little at a time until you get a nice moist stuffing. Check for seasoning, and add more salt and pepper if needed.
6. Stuff the turkey right away if making it that day and then the remaining stuffing put in a baking dish sprayed with a non stick spray. Cover with foil and refrigerate until turkey day. You can also put both in the refrigerator until the next day as well.
7. Bake - Make sure to take the stuffing out of the refrigerator for 30 minutes at least before baking to take the chill off. I check the stuffing for moisture before I bake and often add an additional 1 cup or more of the chicken stock to ensure moist stuffing. Especially for the stuffing out of the bird. The stuffing in the bird will get moisture from the turkey.
8. Keep covered with foil and bake 30-45 minutes until heated through (my oven is usually on 350-375.
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