Wild Rice Stuffing with Veggies & Herbs
This baking pan is loaded with a fruity yet savory dressing ready for the oven. Bake it alongside your Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes with Sage and Cheddar, they cook at just about the same time and temp.
Stuffing - or dressing, as I am not stuffing anything but myself this year - is one of the big three dishes for Thanksgiving. Four, if you count the gravy. Great turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing and gravy can make up for a multitude of sins. So here is a recipe full of toasty bread, sausage, wild rice, cranberries, apples, veggies and savory herbs. It cooks at about the same time and temp as your mashed potato casserole (link above), which creates a lot of efficiency during the hectic part of the day when you're trying to get food on the table. Fewer moving hot pans in the thick of things = less confusion, which = less stress. This definitely works as a make-aheader. I prepare both the potatoes and the stuffing on Wednesday and return to room temperature before baking on Thanksgiving day. I hope you enjoy!
Serves a large crowd.
- 10 - 12 cups, or two loaves of artisan bread, torn. I like to use cranberry pecan bread and whatever else looks good. I have also used packaged herb stuffing and it comes out perfectly fine!
- 1 stick butter
- 3/4 cups chicken stock
- 1 lb. ground breakfast sausage or any loose sausage
- 1 c. diced onion
- 1 c. bell pepper, diced (go ahead mix your colors!)
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1 Granny Smith Apple, you guessed it, diced
- 1 cup cooked wild rice (use package directions, can be done even further ahead of time and stored in refrigerator)
- 2 T. chopped Italian parsley plus more for sprinkling before serving
- 2 tsp. (or more) dried oregano
- 2 tsp. (or more) dried thyme
- 1 tsp. dried sage
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Olive oil for swirling and sprinkling
IF YOU HAVE NOT USED CRANBERRY BREAD OR HAVE USED A PACKAGE, ADD:
- 1/2 c. dried cranberries
The bread, pre-and post-bake, some chicken or turkey stock with butter, sausage, veggies and herbs. I add everything to the bowl, including the wild rice and fruit, give it a good stir and pour it into the buttered baking dish. Feel free to sprinkle a little extra herb on the top and a handful of parsley before serving.
Tear each loaf of bread onto a cookie sheet, toss lightly with a sprinkle of olive oil and bake for 10 - 15 minutes at 325 degrees, checking halfway through so as NOT TO BURN THEM!!! Yes, it's happened to me, but I usually have a package as a back-up. The idea is to get the moisture out and the tiniest bit of brown on them. Anyway, remove the toasted bread to a large mixing bowl.
Meanwhile, in a sauce pan, add the chicken stock and butter and apply a low flame to heat it through. In a saute pan or skillet, add a swirl of olive oil and then the pork sausage, onion, bell pepper, celery, salt and pepper, then stir until the pork is well-cooked. Add that to the bowl, too, and then slowly add the stock and butter one ladle at a time until you get the proper consistency for stuffing. It should not be too too wet! Lastly, add the apple, cooked wild rice, parsley and (optional) cranberries, combine well, and turn into a 9" x 12" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or until crusty on the top and still moist on the inside. Cover it with gravy while you're at it, it's Thanksgiving!!
I hope you enjoy these recipes and wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanks for following Ann, I am grateful.