Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey just isn’t quite complete without “stuffing”, or dressing. This recipe is one I kind of made up really quick when I was told I was making the dressing about an hour before Thanksgiving dinner was to start. I thought about what my mother had done, and then the flavors of dressings that I have always liked. Sausage stuffing has always been something I just loved, and it was always liked by everyone, so, I went to the refrigerator, grabbed what I had, and started in.
I have my notes from the day here beside me now – the only thing that is “exact” measurement was the sausage – everything else was an estimate. I later made this recipe again, being much more careful about measurements, and the note taking.
One thing I will say about this recipe — it goes fast, and I do mean that. Super fast. Make extra if you want leftovers. This recipe should serve 6-8 easily.
Sausage, Mushroom & Sage Dressing
1/2 pound Italian sausage
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 pound mushrooms – sliced
3/4 cup celery, chopped
1 medium onion – chopped
salt and pepper to taste
6-7 cups dry bread, cubed
1/2 teaspoon dried sage or 1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced fine
2 1/2 –3 cups chicken stock
drippings from the turkey
In a frying pan, brown the sausage, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. Once the sausage has cooked, remove the sausage and set aside. Drain away the grease from the frying pan, leaving a bit left in the pan. Add the butter, and melt it. Add in the onion, celery and mushrooms and cook 3-5 minutes, or until the onion is clear. Add in the sage, and then salt and pepper. Add the sausage back in, add the cubed bread, and enough of the stock to moisten the bread.
Place in a greased baking dish. 2 quart casserole dish is best, but a 9×13 cake pan will work fine, too. Cover and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes. Add in a few teaspoons of drippings from the turkey once or twice, just to give that extra depth of flavor. Uncover and bake about 10 more minutes.
Notes:
- If the Italian sausage you get is in casings, just remove it and break it up as much as possible. Well.. cut it into tiny pieces, as it is impossible to actually “break” up.
- Mix up the sausage – use sage sausage, or your favorite sausage
- I don’t really like poultry seasoning, which is why you see drippings from the turkey added into this recipe, but if you do, add in about 1 teaspoon when you mix in the sausage to the onion-mushroom-celery mixture.
- Try other additions: raisins, currents, any kind of good fresh mushrooms, water chestnuts
- One final note – you can easily double the amount of sausage in this recipe, and it’ll be just as fantastic (if not better – but then again, you all know I love sausage!! :D )
