Thanksgiving Day Dressing

I typically stuff my turkey each year, but something came across me this year, and I took a different route, and instead, made a dressing. I adapted my wife’s grandmother’s recipe, and made it my own using homemade turkey broth, my own bread, and a handful of other goodies.

As I brined my turkey this year, I was left with the bags of goods. You know the ones (heart, kidney, neck, liver). So I used the livers and hearts and set those aside, and used the rest of the goods and added them to my stock pot, covered it them with approximately 3 cups of water, a dash of salt, and let it come to a boil, then simmered down for nearly two hours. After discarding the goods, I was left with this really rich turkey broth. This broth will later be used for the stuffing. Keep in mind you could use chicken broth, or water if so you desire.

Ingredients:

• 6 links of mild italian sausage, casing removed (optional)
• Turkey liver and heart (optional)
• 6 ribs of celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup of raisins
• 6 medium sized green olives, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 loaf of day old italian bread, cubed, and dried
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 green apple, cored, skin removed, and cubed
• 1/4 cup of chopped parsley
• 2 cups of turkey broth

Begin by adding 2 ribs of the celery, half of the onion, heart and liver, sausage meat, and salt and pepper to a food processor and pulse this down until thoroughly combined. Set aside. To a large pan (enough to fit all of this), melt down 3 tablespoons of the butter. Add your dried croutons, and toss to coat really well. Dump them to a bowl to set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

To this pan again, melt down another 3 tablespoon of butter. Toss in your chopped onion and celery and cook for roughly 6 minutes. Add in the meat mixture, and combine. Add in the remaining ingredients, as well as the croutons. mix really well. Add in about a cup of the stock, and mix again. Add this to a large baking dish, and add a bit more of the stock. Cover and cook for nearly one hour in the oven.

The outcome is something that is truly delicious. It is packed full of these great flavors, and is moist through and through. Enjoy.