Sausage and Apple Stuffing
I’ve had plenty of different kinds of stuffing over the years and found that my favorites always included sausage and apples. That was my inspiration for this recipe. I was going to use sourdough bread but the market was out of it so I decided to go with ciabatta and I’m glad I did. I really liked the texture that the ciabatta bread gave to the stuffing. You can use any sausage you like but Jimmy Dean is just classic and delicious. I added lots of fresh herbs for flavor, and cranberries and pecans for texture. This stuffing was a hit at our Friedsgiving. It was super flavorful, moist and simply tasted like Thanksgiving.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb ciabatta loaf
- 1 lb Jimmy Dean sausage
- 2 yellow onions, chopped
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 2 apples, chopped
- 1 tbsp flat leaf Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups chicken stock
Directions:
Slice a ciabatta loaf and leave them out overnight to stale. Once stale, cut each slice into 1 inch cubes and set aside.
In a large pan over medium heat, add sausage. Use a wooden spoon to break up the sausage as it cooks. Continue cooking until sausage has browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove sausage from pan onto a plate lined with paper towels. Keep the sausage fat in the pan and add the onions and celery. Cook until onions are translucent. Then add in the apples and cook for a couple minutes. Then add in all the herbs and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add bread cubes, cooked sausage, the onion apple mixture, dried cranberries and chopped pecans.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add butter and allow to melt. Then add in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Once boiling pour over the stuffing mix and stir to combine all ingredients.
I LOVE to stuff my turkey with this because it gets all the delicious flavors of the turkey while it cooks. If you are not stuffing your turkey, add the stuffing to a buttered baking dish, cover it with foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 to 40 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes. This recipe makes a lot of stuffing so I put as much as will fit in the turkey and cook the rest in a baking dish in the oven.
