Sausage And Apple Dressing
1 pound ground pork
2 teaspoons minced fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
Вј teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary
Вј teaspoon cayenne pepper
Вј teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons oil or cooking fat of choice
3 cups diced celery
2 cups diced onion
1 pound button or cremini mushrooms, cleaned and diced
3 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 large eggs
Вј cup turkey stock or drippings from turkey
- Preheat the oven to 350В°F.
- In a large skillet, combine the pork, sage, thyme, rosemary, cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes. Brown the pork over medium heat, mixing well and breaking up the pork into small bits as it cooks. When the pork is cooked through, transfer it to an 11 x 13-inch baking dish and set aside.
- In the skillet in which the pork was cooked, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the celery, onions, mushrooms and apples and cook until the onions are translucent and the celery and mushrooms have softened somewhat. Mix in the poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and turkey stock. Set aside.
- Stir the sautГ©ed vegetables into the reserved pork in the baking dish and pour the egg/stock mixture over the top.
- Bake, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the dressing is somewhat browned on top.
NOTE: In step 2, you’re basically making your own sausage. If you have an already prepared sausage that you like that isn’t full of additives, feel free to use that instead, thereby avoiding the need for the ground pork, sage, thyme, rosemary, cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes listed in the recipe.
NOTE: Don’t have poultry seasoning on hand? Most poultry seasonings are a blend of predominantly sage, thyme and marjoram, with lesser amounts of rosemary, celery seed and sometimes savory. If you have any of these dried herbs on hand, simply blend them up in a spice grinder to create your own poultry seasoning.
