I thought I’d make a different stuffing this year. This one is mushroom chestnut and fig bread stuffing. It’s laced with home made turkey stock. I didn’t have the turkey fat yet so I used chicken fat from the last chicken I roasted instead of using oil or butter like most people do. You take your Thanksgiving food up to the next level when you use bird fat instead of oil or butter. This stuffing comes out with a great depth of flavor. It’s also comes out moist, fluffy and a little crisp on the ends. It makes half a buffet pan of food. For me this is about 20 servings….but I try to make my stuffing portions very small. So I will guesstimate 10 – 20 servings. Mine came out like this.

Ingredients for around 15 portions

6 oz mushrooms – chopped or sliced thin

1 red onion – small diced

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves + plus extra to sprinkle on at serving

5 oz saved fat (This is the type of fat that you skim off a from a stew – I used chicken but would have preferred turkey.) (You can use butter but I didn’t)

1 Tablespoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

Optional – 4 Tablespoons mushroom powder (100% mushrooms) (I used from www.sunvalleyharvest.com from the local person known as the mushroom lady) (it depends on your mushrooms if you want to use mushroom powder)

5 oz dried figs – chopped

11 oz roasted chestnuts – chopped

4 cups home made turkey stock (I have a recipe here for turkey stock)

1 loaf dried sourdough bread (you buy the bread a week before you need it and place it in slices or all chopped up in a single layer on sheet pans to dry out in your oven. This takes a week. My loaf of sour dough weighed one pound three ounces when all dried out. – cubed

3 eggs – beaten

1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin

non stick spray

Directions

Set your oven to 350 degrees F and spray either a large baking dish or a half buffet pan with non stick cooking spray and set the pan to the side.

In a large fry pan melt one ounce of the fat. Add the mushrooms and onions and stir a little let it go about 5 minutes till it’s soft and add the thyme, salt, peppers, figs and chestnuts. Let that cook together about 5 more minutes and then add the stock. Let it go till it boils. Take off heat and let the remaining fat melt into it. Keep to the side.

In a big bowl add the stale bread that was cut into cubes. Add the scallions.

In a medium bowl beat your eggs. Add the mushroom powder to the eggs. Add a cup of the pan contents to mix into the eggs. Add this and the remaining pan contents to the big bowl of stuffing and mix it all up. Let this sit out for about 30 minutes so the bread can absorb the liquid and flavors. You will need to mix again.

After around 30 minutes when everything looks nice and absorbed put the mixture into the non stick sprayed pan. Cover the pan tightly with foil. Place in the pre-heated 350 degree F oven for 75 minutes. Uncover and put it back in the oven for no longer than 15 minutes to crisp it up a little.

Sprinkle with some more fresh thyme. Serve with Turkey gravy.

ENJOY!