savory dressing

I have some catching up to do here, so I will be making several posts in the next few days.  Guess I got a bit lazy about posting for awhile, but I have been cooking, same as usual.

So to start things off in the proper holiday mood, let's talk about dressing, or stuffing as it is often called, though I prefer to "stuff" the bird with aromatics, and let the dressing cook on its own.  I think it shortens the cooking time of a turkey, and lessens the chance of ending up with breast meat the texture of particle board.  Stuffing, or dressing, is the main event for some people, so I like to make it interesting.

First comes the bread.  I choose a hearty bread, like a boule of Italian or French bread, and remove the crusts if they are particularly tough.  The wisdom of the day is to use stale bread because it is drier, but a little research led me to the understanding that staling is not the same as drying, and I have come to the conclusion, mostly by tasting the end product, that cubing and drying the bread in the oven is the best approach to having bread that will absorb plenty of moisture and make for a creamy, rich dressing.

toasted pecans add a nice crunch to dressing,

and they can be toasted in the oven, right along with the bread

The aromatics bring both flavor and texture to a good dressing, and I like to mix it up a bit with apples, onions, and celery.  In the past, I have added dried cranberries, or mushrooms and shallots, or toasted walnuts with dried apricots.  The lovely thing about a dressing is that it can be whatever you're in the mood for.

the appearance of honeycrisp apples in the market steered me

to apples, onion, and celery--a great flavor combination

Chopping everything in a small dice, and sautéing the aromatics in a couple of tablespoons of butter will assure that the mixture will be tender, and release its flavors into the finished dish.    For one round loaf of bread I used one apple, two ribs of celery, and one medium yellow onion.  I had fresh sage in the garden, so I used it, but dried sage will work just fine.  I love the flavor of sage in dressing, so I use quite a bit.  It isn't an exact science, just add as much as you like--or add thyme or tarragon instead, if that is what floats your boat.  For this amount of dressing, I would probably add about a heaping tablespoon of dried, rubbed sage.

beautiful, fresh sage from the garden--

here in South Carolina I will continue to get fresh sage through December 

I tossed the toasted bread with the chopped pecans, a bit of salt and pepper, the sautéed veggies, the sage, and a few grates from a whole nutmeg for the warmth it brings.  Then I stirred in two whole eggs for a binder, about a quarter cup of cream, and about 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth.  Just keep adding broth until you have a soft texture, but not so much that the bread loses its shape completely.  I'm okay with eating uncooked egg, so I just taste the raw mixture for seasoning.  If you are worried about raw egg, sauté a bit of the mixture until it browns up, and taste that to be sure you don't need more salt, pepper, or herbs. 

the prepared dressing will benefit from an hour or so rest in the 

fridge, covered with foil

The dressing will bake covered in foil in about an hour in a 350 degree oven, uncovered for the final 20 minutes.

the crunchy brown bits are my favorite part--

unfortunately much of the crusty top was picked away by

vultures before I had a chance to take a photo

I suppose I must confess that I may have been one of the vultures stealing morsels of the crunchy stuff.  Oh well.  You have to get in there to get the good stuff.