Cornbread I love. I like it with my vegetarian chili, sweet potato black bean hash, and in my cornbread sausage stuffing. Sometimes, I like a different flavor to the carb-loaded table at Thanksgiving time and this stuffing just hits the flavors all the way around and compliments all the other dishes such as the turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and the gravy. I have made many different recipes using spicy sausage, Italian sausage, sausage in the butcher’s market but I think the Bob Evans Natural Sausage is perfect with this. What is nice is that there are no preservatives or MSG in this sausage which is what I prefer in all meats. The stuffing is full of flavor with minimal ingredients. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did on Thanksgiving Day.
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Pam’s Cornbread Sausage Stuffing
Created on 11/24/11
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Prep:
Make the cornbread the day before. Preheat the oven 400 degrees. Butter a 9 x 13 casserole dish and set aside. I got this recipe from All Recipes on the internet, and tweaked it to my version. I have made it both ways and for the stuffing, this recipe is perfect. I also made this recipe with coconut milk and the bread came out really good.
1 cup flour
1 cup yellow or white cornmeal
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup honey
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Mix all the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Then mix all the wet ingredients in another bowl. Combine the dry to the wet ingredients and mix until just all coated. Pour into the greased dish and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes until a butter knife comes out clean. When the cornbread is cool, cut into 1” squares and put in a glass bowl. Cover and let set until ready to make the stuffing.
Day of to make the Sausage Stuffing:
Toasted Corn Bread Cubes
To do this: I put the 1” cubes on a cookie tray or stoneware and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes until the cubes are toasted. This helps to prevent the stuffing from becoming soggy and I think it gives more flavor to the stuffing with that toasted-roasted kind of flavor. Remove from the oven and put in a large bowl.
While the cornbread is toasting in the oven, prepare the sausage filling
1 lb of Bob Evans Naturally Sausage (crumbled up) You can also substitute your favorite turkey sausage
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
About 1 teaspoon of Kosher Salt
½ teaspoon of fresh cracked pepper
2 to 3 cups of chicken broth (depends on the consistency of the dressing)
Cook tip: Always start out small and slowly add the liquid, you can always add but cannot take out the liquid if it is too much for the stuffing
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat and add the celery, onion, garlic mixture. Cook for about 5 to 7 minutes until the celery and onion is soft and caramelized. Add the crumbled sausage. Crumble the sausage with your fingers or just put the whole thing in there and break up the meat with your spoon. Cook until the sausage is fully cooked. Season the filling with salt and pepper.
In the large bowl where the toasted corn bread cubes are, add the filling and kind of mix and break apart the bread and filling. Add the chicken broth ½ cup at a time until you reach the moistness desired. Remember you don’t want the stuffing to be soggy but at the same time when you squeeze the stuffing together with your fingers it should somewhat hold a shape and crumble at the same time lightly.
Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes until the top is crunchy and browned. Serve with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.
Filed under: Dressings, Holiday Recipes, Not So Simply Healthy Recipes | Tagged: celery, Cornbread, Onion, sausage | 1 Comment »
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