Last year was the first time we hosted and it turned out pretty good, family was happy, food was eaten and everybody decided to come back this year (so I must have done something right!). One of my favorite dishes (well, who are we kidding, I love all of them equally) is stuffing! It's really easy and I make it the day before to save time on Thanksgiving day.
Ingredients:
* 12 oz unseasoned cubed stuffing (I used Pepperidge Farm)
* 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
* 1 large onion, chopped
* 8 oz of mushrooms, chopped
* 4 celery stalks, chopped
* 1/2 cup water chestnuts, chopped
* 1 apple, chopped
* 1 cup dried cranberries
* 10-15 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
* 3 cups of chicken broth
* 2 eggs
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* salt and pepper
Directions:
1. In a skillet, heat olive oil and saute chopped onions with a little bit of salt until translucent, 4-5 minutes. Add Italian sausage and cook until no longer pink.
2. Add chopped celery and mushroom and cook everything for 5-6 minutes, stirring. Set aside and let it cool a little.
3. In a large bowl, combine water chestnuts, apples, cranberries and fresh sage. Add chicken broth and beaten egg, mix everything together.
4. Transfer cooled sausage mixture into the bowl with the rest of ingredients, add cubed stuffing, season with salt and pepper and mix everything until combined.
5. Transfer into greased baking dish, cover with foil and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for additional 15 minutes.
Delicious! It comes out not too mushy, but not too dry. Sage makes it taste like holidays, cranberries and apples give it the right amount of sweetness and water chestnuts provide the crunch and texture! I always make a big batch to make sure that we have plenty of leftovers!
Happy Thanksgiving everybody,
Magda
