I don’t know if there’s a Carnival of the Recipes for Thanksgiving, but in response to popular demand [cue sounds of crickets chirping], here’s my unique recipe for corn-bread and wild-rice stuffing. It’s higher protein than most.
A couple pounds of sausage (I prefer some kind of fancy chicken or turkey sausage–this year I found some chicken/brocolli)
wild rice (maybe half a cup)
pine nuts (maybe half a cup)
a pound or so of exotic mushrooms (oyster, chanterelle, shiitake, etc.)
one onion, chopped
a few cloves of garlic, diced
a few cups of corn bread crumbs, either home made or store-bought stuffing
a few stalks of celery (if desired–I don’t like it that much, but some people think it’s not stuffing without it), chopped
pomegranate seeds (this is the secret ingredient)
A couple cups of chicken broth (from bouillion is fine, unless you want to be fancy)
salt, pepper, sage, thyme to taste
olive oil
Soak the rice overnight in about twice as much water as it needs to cover. Another good thing to do ahead, while watching teevee, is to divest the pomegranate from its seeds (persnickety work).
In the morning, cut up the sausage into bite-size chunks, and saute in the olive oil (amount depending on the stickiness of your saute pan). Chop the rest of the ingredients and boil the rice for fifteen minutes or so (if you overdo it, it won’t have the crunchiness). Set the meat aside and saute the onions, celery and garlic in the same pan.
Put all the non-liquid ingredients in a big bowl and stir well. Add in the broth and mix thoroughly. If it seems too dry, feel free to add as much water…or booze…as you want. It should be moist throughout, but not soaked. You can also add melted butter to taste and texture if you like that sort of thing, and your arteries can take it. Another option, to be more heart healthy, is to fatten it up with olive or canola oil.
Use it like any other stuffing–either inside the bird, or under the skin, or just bake it in its own dish, or all of the above.
Eat, and enjoy.
Oh, and on this Thanksgiving Eve, let us all bow our heads and give remembrance to the woman who invented Stove Top Stuffing™, who has stuffed her last stove top.