Stuff that Bird - Condensed

Fresh from the oven

Preparation time: 1 hour

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 and 1/2 hours

This recipe is primarily based on the stuffing recipes in The Silver Palate Cookbook and the New Kitchen Basic Cookbook. Everyone loves the stuffing from inside the turkey, partly because it is always so moist. Most chefs recommending not stuffing the bird to get a more consistent, cooking time so the yummy, moist part is gone. I have found a way to get the entire dish moist. It's not exactly the same, but it gets you the best of both worlds.

Ingredients

· 2 12 ounce bags Pepperidge Farm® Herb Seasoned Classic Stuffing
· 1 12 ounce bag Pepperidge Farm® Corn Bread Classic Stuffing
· 1-pound bulk, Italian Sausage – sweet
· 1-pound bulk, Italian Sausage – mild (substitute sweet if you can’t find mild)
· 2 Sticks Unsweetened Butter
· ¼ cup of  Olive Oil (not virgin)
· 1 Head of celery diced with the leaves
· 2 large, yellow onions – diced ½ inch
· 2 Granny Smith apples - diced 1 inch
· 4 or 5 cloves of garlic - minced
· ½ pound of diced dried apricots ½ inch
· ½ pound of dried cranberries
· ½ pound of dried cherries
· 2 quarts of Chicken stock or broth
· 1 quart of Apple Cider
· 1 tbsp of dried sage

Some quick suggestion: use a food processor or multiblade blender and pulse the apricots in 2 or 3 batches. I found this to be a time and hand saver vs hand dicing.

Turkey stock or broth would be better than the chicken broth if you have it. Personally I haven't found any in the stores and Thanksgiving is the first turkey I use for my soup, so no luck there.

If you are a die hard for stuffing the turkey, I would suggest adding half of the, stuff the bird and add the remaining liquid to the unused stuffing.

Cooking Instructions

1. In 2-quart pot, add ½ the apple cider and all the dried fruit. Bring the cider to a boil and then take it off the heat with the pot covered to steep. This infuses the apple cider with the flavors of the dried fruits and reconstitutes the fruits so that they are tender and moist in the final stage of cooking the stuffing.

2. In a large pan, melt ½ stick of butter and an equal the olive oil, not extra virgin, which is for bread dipping and dressings, not cooking. Use the reserved ½ stick butter to the sauté as needed.

3. Add the onions and sauté for a couple of minutes. Then add the garlic, sauté for another minute. Add the celery, additional butter if needed and sauté for another 5 minutes. Now add the granny smith apples and sauté the entire mixture for another 2 or 3 minutes. You do not want the apples to get soggy, just  tender. Put the mixture in the largest mixing bowl you own.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5. Add ½ of the stuffing mixtures to the bowl and combine with the veg and apples.

6. Add the rest of the stuffing mixture to the bowl, pour in the apple cider and dried fruits. Sprinkle the dried sage around the top. Mix to combine. Add more of the reserved apple cider and chicken stock to get all the stuffing moist and continue mixing until all the stuffing has some liquid on it. Don’t go to far with the additional liquid as you don’t want a pasty mush.

7. Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with the remaining butter and pour the stuffing mixture in. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and place it in the oven for 45 minutes. I recommend checking it after ½ an hour for moisture: if the moisture is right and its cooked through, take it out of the oven. If it is too dry add more of the broth. If it is too wet, leave the aluminum foil loose on top for the remaining 15 minutes.

8. Let it rest for about 5 minutes before serving