My Father's Homemade Sausage Stuffing

Back by popular demand is my recipe for sausage fennel stuffing that is a meal in it's self.

Someone once said, “Nothing is more memorable then a smell.” I believe this to be true. I remember the smell of my Dad’s sausage stuffing every Thanksgiving. He would make it the night before and allow it to cool before putting it away. We never stuffed the bird the night before so the stuffing was always in a container in the refrigerator. He had to make extra because my little fingers would steal some any chance I would get. I learned to master his stuffing and am hoping he’s smiling from Heaven that I continued his stuffing tradition.

I’m sure some will post and tell me “it’s called dressing not stuffing if it’s not in the bird”. You are correct, but old habits die hard and we still call it stuffing.

This is a sausage filled bread stuffing that you can make the day before the holiday and heat it up. I always serve it in a shallow dish so the top of the stuffing is crunchy and the bottom is soft. By no means is a low-calorie dish but it’s the holiday and calories don’t count at the holidays, right?

Let’s cook, you’ll need…

1 small onion (diced)

2 stalks of celery (with leaves- diced)

1 clove of garlic (minced)

2 sticks of butter

1 tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp oregano

3 cups turkey/chicken stock

2 eggs scrambled

2lbs Italian Sausage Meat

1 Tbsp fennel seeds (toasted)

1 tsp parsley flakes

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 loaf of sliced white bread

In a large shallow pot cook: Onions, celery, garlic in butter.

Cook until the mixture is soft but not brown.

You’ll need to take 2 lbs of Italian Sausage out of the casing or buy sausage meat. Break into small pieces and brown the sausage in the pan with the onions and celery.

Cook until the sausage is cooked and brown in color. Time to add the spices. 1 tbsp of fennel seeds, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp parsley flakes, ¼ tsp oregano and ½ tsp black pepper.

Add to the sausage mixture in the pot and stir in, simmering for another 10 mins. Add 3 cups of turkey/chicken stock (I like homemade so I can control the amount of salt). Now your mixture should be on a low boil. Add 1 loaf of white bread torn into small pieces. Stir after each addition of bread to ensure that the entire piece of bread is moistened. If necessary, add more stock.

When all the ingredients are combined and the liquid is cooked off, add 2 scrambled eggs, stirring constantly. Take off the heat and allow the stuffing to stay in the pan for another 15 mins. The carry over heat will continue to cook the stuffing. Cool the stuffing completely and refrigerate if you’re going to use it later. If you’re using it now, you can put it in an oven proof dish and bake off until the top is golden brown.

**Mangia**