Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing

This corn bread stuffing (I know it’s really a dressing but we all call it stuffing) came out zippy or what I’ll call slightly spicy. You can cut out the 1/2 poblano pepper (and other peppers a tiny bit) in the recipe to cut out most of the zippy if you want. This corn bread comes out delicious and moist. I made 1/2 the corn bread used in this recipe for the stuffing (recipe included leftover from Thanksgiving turkey meatballs recipe) Also used home made turkey broth.  That made this Corn Bread Stuffing come out Forking Delicious!

Ingredients for about 15 servings

25 oz stale bread cut into cubes (75% corn bread 25% white bread) (recipe for cornbread 400 degrees F 1 1/4 c. flour, 1/4 c. sugar, 2 t. baking powder, 1/2 t. course sea salt, 1 c. water, 1/4 c. chicken fat, 1 egg non stick spray – about 20 minutes

3 ribs celery – fine chopped

6 oz onion – fine chopped

1/2 orange bell pepper – fine chopped

1/2 poblano pepper –  fine chopped

5 oz chicken fat

1 Tablespoon course sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 garlic cloves – either microplane or ground to paste

1 cup grilled corn kernels

4 eggs

3 1/2 broth (or slightly more if bread cubes seem dry but 3 1/2 is close to what you need)

1 Tablespoon fresh thyme – chopped fine

1 teaspoon fresh sage – chopped fine

5 sprigs fresh parsley leaves – chopped fine

non stick spray

Instructions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a half pan with non stick spray and also spray a piece of aluminum foil on one side because it’s the side that faces the stuffing so it won’t stick.

Put a sauce pot on medium high heat and add the chicken fat, celery, onion, bell pepper, poblano pepper, sea salt, black pepper and cook till everything is soft.

Turn off heat and add garlic right away while still hot and stir.

Add the grilled corn and blend till chunky.

If mixture is just warm you can add the eggs to corn vegetable mixture in pot and mix well.

Add the broth, thyme, sage, parsley and mix well.

The Stale bread cubes should be in a large mixing bowl. To the bowl add the sauce pot mixture and mix well. Let bowl sit about ten minutes to absorb liquid.

When things look absorbed but not dry you can pour mixture in pan…..The mixture should be slightly more wet than dry.

This gets covered with aluminum foil and goes in a 350 degree oven for one hour covered.

After an hour remove the foil and put the pan in for another 15 minutes to crisp slightly.

Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing

This comes out delicious and moist!

You might want to fry up Brussel Sprouts with garlic, fried parsley, hazelnuts and pomegranate to go with your dinner.

Brussel Sprouts, garlic, hazelnuts and parsley pomegranate

Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing

Cornbread Stuffing that’s Zippy and Delicious!

The Forking Truth

Cranberry Pickled Beet Sauce

Thought I’d do a different cranberry sauce that I think is original. I thought sweet beets that are pickled with be kinda good with cranberries.  you know how pickled things seem to lighten up meats…?….Well that was my thinking……The sauce came out not too sweet and sort of pickled…..This is the least sweet of the cranberry sauces I made but I do think it’s sweet enough.   The feedback I got on this one was that it taste good but the texture was unusual……my first thought was to spiral cut the beets…….maybe I should have went with my first thought? This recipe makes a little over three cups of sauce so that’s about 13 servings.

Ingredients for about 13 servings

12 oz cranberries – rinsed well

1 1/2 cup beet brine (I doubled the beets so I had more brine if you are short just add water to make up the difference)

1/2 cup sugar

12 oz pickled beets – cut in cubes the size of cranberries (easy recipe about a pound of peeled red beets cut in half, 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup water, pinch sea salt roast in covered pan at 350 degree f till fork tender (about one hour)

1 tiny orange ( like a cutie) – just the fresh squeezed juice

pinch white pepper

pinch course sea salt

Directions

Everything goes in pot. Cook at medium high heat when it starts boiling turn the heat down to medium. Cook until desired consistency.

Serve either warm or chilled.

Cranberry Pickled Beet Sauce

The Forking Truth

Deluxe Moist Fresh Herb Turkey Stuffing

You need to cook a turkey before Thanksgiving to gather up all the goodies you need to prepare this stuffing. (really it’s a dressing but nobody calls it dressing) This is the kind of stuffing that you make when you make your own stock because you need the flavorful fat from the cooked turkey carcass to fry up the onions and celery, you need to use the fresh made broth, I also used the tasty drippings from leg quarters I cooked earlier. All that and fresh herbs makes this stuffing is incredible. I ran some over to my husband to try…..he gobbled it down and did a refill. This is really great stuffing and your guest demolish this pan.

Ingredients for around 15 generous servings maybe only 7 if everyone does a repeat.

1/2 cup turkey fat

1 large onion – fine chopped

5 ribs celery – fine chopped

1 Tablespoon and to taste (up to one teaspoon more) course sea salt

1 teaspoon ground telicherry black pepper

2 lbs (about) stale bread cubes ( I used two baguette shaped ciabatta loaves and one French Baguette)

4 eggs – lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups turkey drippings (from a roasted seasoned turkey)

3 cups turkey broth

1 Tablespoon fresh thyme – fine chopped

1 Tablespoon fresh fresh sage – fine chopped

1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary – fine chopped

1 Tablespoon fresh parsley – fine chopped

non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Use a half pan and spray with non stick spray. You also need to spray one side of the aluminum foil cover (the side that sits against the stuffing) so it doesn’t stick to the stuffing.

In a sauce pot on medium heat add the turkey fat, onions, celery, salt and pepper. Cook vegetables till soft and then shut off heat and put to the side.

In a large bowl or a large pitcher combine the eggs, turkey drippings, broth, and herbs and mix.

In a very large mixing bowl add the bread cubes and pot of onions and celery. Then add the egg/broth mixture to the bread cube mixture and mix. Let it sit at least 10 minutes so the cubes can absorb most of the liquid.

After things look not all but mostly absorbed place mixture in sprayed pan.

Cover with sprayed foil.

Put in 350 degree F oven for an hour.

After an hour take pan out of oven and remove foil.

If you want a slightly crisp crust put the pan back in the oven uncovered so it looks like pan in photo.

Moist Fresh Herb Turkey Stuffing

This stuffing is moist, fluffy and delicious……You don’t really need gravy here!

Moist Fresh Herb Turkey Stuffing

Forking Great Traditional Stuffing.

The Forking Truth