Specialty Mushroom Sausage Stuffing for Turkey

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Ingredients

  • 1 pound breakfast sausage (pork or turkey), the kind with sage and black pepper.
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • ¼ pound butter
  • 1 pound mixed or single variety MYCOPIA mushrooms -- leave small mushrooms whole, cut larger ones in almond sized pieces
  • 1 large sweet onion, chopped (about 1/ ¼ cups diced)
  • 3-4 large shallots, chopped (about ½ cup, diced)
  • 1 ½ cups diced celery
  • 1 medium green bell pepper, cut in very small dice
  • 10 cups cubed white and whole-grain breads (see note)
  • 1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
  • 1 Tablespoon Bell’s Seasoning (or mixed herbs, see note)
  • ½ teaspoon each salt and black pepper
  • a few shakes of ginger
  • ¾ cup toasted hazelnuts or walnuts, chopped
  • 1 large tart apple, diced (about 1 cup)
  • 1 cup turkey stock (from neck and wing tips)
  • 3 whole eggs

 Directions

  1. Brown sausage. (The little bit of oil helps to get the process going). Break sausage up as it cooks. When sausage is browned, remove from pan, pouring through a sieve to drain the fat off. Set sausage aside to cool. Discard fat. (Or use some of this fat and reduce butter proportionately.)
  2. Add butter to the skillet without wiping skillet out. Cook mushrooms, onion, shallot, celery and bell pepper over medium heat until onion is translucent. Meanwhile toss cubed breads, parsley, seasonings, nuts, apple, and sausage meat in large bowl.
  3. Add cooked vegetables. Mix stock and eggs. Toss all together.
  4. Pack lightly into generously buttered, heavy pan or casserole. Cover with foil. Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Side Notes:

In the best case scenario the white bread is a day-old sourdough, and the whole-grain is fresh, coarse and firm. If day-old white bread is not available, cube fresh white bread and bake in moderate oven until very lightly toasted, before proceeding with recipe.

Bell’s is a great commercial poultry seasoning.  The ingredients are rosemary, oregano, sage, ginger, marjoram, thyme, and pepper. If you don’t have Bell’s handy, you can play with various combinations of these.

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