Festive Season Stuffing

Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, Boxing Day leftovers... however it rolls in your house, you might want to give this stuffing recipe a go next time you are hosting a Holiday Dinner. We thought it was sensational and as far as I'm concerned the best part of my Roast Turkey Dinner this Thanksgiving.  I had never cooked a roast Turkey before moving here let alone tried my hand at stuffing, so this was a surprise to me and the result was incredible.  I had heard rumors of what made a good foundation for stuffing but until I started to pull it together I didn't realize how far I could go with this.  Growing up, Mum used to cook her Turkey for Christmas Day with the stuffing inside the bird and that always gave the meat lovely flavor so I had never contemplated cooking the stuffing outside the bird, as a side dish.  This really appealed to me.   It also cuts down what you need to do at the last minute as so much of this can be prepared the day before.  

Ingredients:

1/2 brown onion, finely diced

1 carrot, diced

2 sticks celery, diced

200g (4 oz) pork sausage or 2 thick pork sausages, meat removed

a good handful of dried cranberries

1/2 cup chicken or turkey stock

2-3 thick slices stale bread, cut into cubed croutons

handful of roughly chopped walnuts

tblpsn each of freshly chopped sage, thyme and rosemary

1 clove garlic, crushed

3/4 cup diced mushrooms

butter (and more butter)

cracked pepper

sea salt

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 400'F
• In a large fry pan, heat a little butter and saute the mushrooms with salt and pepper and garlic. Once cooked through, remove from the pan.
• Add more butter or oil and fry off the onion, then carrots and celery until soft and tender
• Add the pork sausage meat and break it up using a spoon and cook until browned
• Replace the mushrooms and now add the fresh herbs, cranberries and walnuts and toss well with a little of the chicken stock.
• Season with salt and pepper as needed
• In an oven proof dish, add the stuffing mixture together with the croutons
• Pour in the remainder of the chicken stock, tossing through the croutons until moist.
• Cook in the hot oven until the croutons brown and return to crunchy
• Then serve alongside your Christmas or Festive roast meat.