Stuffing
Serves 2 (with leftovers)
Whenever I serve my stuffing I get good to great reviews and guests seem to take second helpings which usually signifies satisfaction (or they haven't eaten in a week). The interesting thing is; I don't have a recipe for it and because of that I never make it the same twice!
The backbone of the stuffing is golden raisins and garlic and butter croutons (a PC product). As well, there is always ground sage, salt, pepper, onion or shallot and chicken broth. There could be other types of dried fruit such as apricots, apples, cranberries and/or currants. There may be some garlic, mushrooms, carrots and/or celery and once I put some spinach in because it was in the refrigerator and if I didn't use it, it would end up in the trash can. Just for interest sake, I love spinach, but it did nothing for the stuffing.
When I made the stuffing for this Thanksgiving dinner, I actually kept track of what I used (this time) and the quantities. As it turns out it was a pretty good batch.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. Duck fat
- 1/2 cup Shallot diced
- 1/2 cup Carrot, peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup Celery, diced
- 10 oz. Garlic and butter croutons (weight not volume)
- 3/4 cup Golden Raisins
- 1/2 cup Dried Currants
- 4 oz. Turkey drippings*
- 1/2 tsp. Ground sage
- 1 tsp. Fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp. Freshly ground black pepper
*Note: I had roasted the turkey breast before I made the stuffing and after removing the excess turkey fat from the drippings I had 4 ounces of drippings which I used in the stuffing. If I had made the stuffing first I would have used 10 ounces of chicken broth.
Directions
- Melt the duck fat in the bottom of the casserole. Add the shallot, carrot and celery and sauté for 10 minutes.
- Add the croutons, raisins, currants, broth*, sage, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Put the lid on the casserole and cook on medium low heat for about 15 minutes. Mix, making sure to get all the way to the bottom of the casserole. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Also check the moisture content of the stuffing. Depending on the absorption of your croutons you may need to add more liquid.
- Continue to cook, covered on low heat, mixing every 15 minutes or so for about an hour. Then remove from heat. With the cover on the casserole the stuffing will stay warm for at least an hour.
I use a medium sized enameled casserole dish to make my stuffing, I don't know why, but I always have. I also make the stuffing on top of the stove. I used to make it in the oven, but in many cases it would conflict with the turkey I was roasting or it would be forgotten and it needs to be mixed to stop it from burning on the bottom. So now I cook it on the back element of the stove where I can mix it every now and then and add some more chicken broth if it appears to be drying out. I can also taste it and adjust the seasoning.