Stuffing: When Stale Bread Goes to Heaven

I know, I promised cookies and snowflakes, but here I am with stuffing. Such is life, as they say -- and it's a very yummy stuffing, too! Here's the recipe, originally from CountryLiving.com:




Sourdough Mushroom Stuffing

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
• 1 pound(s) assorted wild mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cup(s) (about 9 ribs) chopped celery
• 2 cup(s) finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup(s) chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh sage
• 2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1 teaspoon(s) chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground pepper
• 1 loaf(s) (1-pound) sourdough bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 1/2 cup(s) low-sodium chicken broth

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 3-quart casserole dish with 1 tablespoon butter and set aside.
2. Melt remaining butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 10 minutes. Add the celery and onion and sauté for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, add the remaining ingredients, and toss to combine. Transfer the stuffing to the prepared baking dish and cover with aluminum foil.
4. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes; remove the foil and bake for 20 more minutes. Serve hot.

So easy, right? I made this for Thanksgiving, and the Mr. liked it so much that I had to make it again (well, and still having a ton of leftover mushrooms probably helped make that happen, too). Any way, here are the results (and I do apologize for the picture quality; I couldn't find the charger for my camera so I used my phone.

It's all about letting it brown . . .

Having made it twice, I've learned a thing or two:

1) The taste is greatly improved by using really sour sourdough bread, and the texture is improved if the bread is stale and you cut it into smaller chunks than the recipe calls for.

2) Dried herbs will work just as well -- just keep in mind that 1 Tbsp fresh = 1/3 - 1/2 tsp dry. Otherwise you end up with rosemary stuffing, and not much else!

3) I really need to find the charger for my camera.

Yep, the 'manual macro' just isn't cutting it . . .

Until next time, Bon Appetite! 

On Friday, Mrs. will demonstrate her snowflake cutting prowess (probably involving a camera phone), and begin to stress about the fact that she hasn't even started on Christmas cards this year. Or sent last year's, for that matter.