Mushroom and Fresh Herb Stuffing

From the book The Basic Gourmet Entertains by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, and Kathleen Taggart

Serves

Introduction

As you have gathered from our turkey recipe, we don’t stuff our bird. So, here is our version of bread stuffing. It’s crusty on top, yet moist from the fresh herbs and vegetables. In our neck of the woods, fabulous bakeries have sprung up producing flavorful, crusty bread. Try to buy some interesting bread and cut your own bread cubes. At Thanksgiving, many bakeries sell dry bread cubes made from their breads. You can also use packaged cubes readily available in supermarkets

Ingredients

	1	Tbsp. butter, softened
	10	cups dry bread cubes
	4	oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter
	1	large yellow onion (about 10 ounces), peeled and chopped
	2	large carrots (about 8 ounces total), peeled and chopped
	3	large ribs celery, chopped
	1½	lb. fresh mushrooms, wiped or brushed clean, stems trimmed, and quartered
	½	cup minced parsley
	1	Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
	1	Tbsp. chopped fresh sage leaves
	1	tsp. salt
	~	Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
	3	large eggs, lightly beaten
	4	cups Chicken Stock or 2 cans (16 ounces each) low-sodium chicken broth

Steps

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a deep, 9-by-13-inch baking pan with the tablespoon of softened butter. Place bread cubes in a very large mixing bowl. Melt half the stick of butter in a 10-inch frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and saute, stirring frequently, until vegetables are soft and lightly golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Add this mixture to bread cubes.
Melt remaining butter in same frying pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté, stirring frequently, until firm and lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Add parsley, thyme, sage, salt, and a few grinds of pepper, and sauté 1 minute longer. Add mushroom mixture to bread cubes, and stir to combine. Add beaten eggs and stock or broth to bread cubes, and mix well. Place stuffing in prepared dish and bake, uncovered, until top is lightly browned and crusty, about 1 hour. If you have room in your oven, bake stuffing while turkey is roasting. If oven space is tight, bake stuffing prior to roasting turkey, then reheat while you are letting turkey rest and carving it.

Notes

Instead of using the turkey liver in the gravy, dice it and saute it with the onions and other vegetables, then add it to the stuffing. However, if you have vegetarians at your holiday table, use the liver with the giblet gravy, and for the stuffing use canned vegetable broth rather than chicken stock.

This content is from the book The Basic Gourmet Entertains by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, and Kathleen Taggart.