Sourdough Dressing
Just a quick and dirty little way to use some of the sourdough bread being created.
As a side dish for roasted poultry, (aka dressing) this excels, as a stuffing for various vegetables, it is outstanding. One of my most popular sides were portobello mushroom caps, stuffed and baked. (Use the stems in the dressing.)
Note: I’ve included the use of vegetable or mushroom broth so as to include vegetarian options.
From Wikipedia: (You do support them, Right?)
Stuffing, filling, or dressing is an edible mixture, normally consisting primarily of small cut-up pieces of bread or a similar starch and served as a side dish or used to fill a cavity in another food item while cooking. Many foods may be stuffed, including eggs, poultry, seafood, mammals, and vegetables, but chickens and turkey are the most common. Stuffing serves the dual purpose of helping to keep the meat moist while also adding to the mix of flavours of both the stuffing and the thing it is stuffed in.
Poultry stuffing often consists of dried breadcrumbs, onion, celery, salt, pepper, and other spices and herbs, a common herb being sage. Giblets are often used. Additions in the United Kingdom include dried fruits and nuts (such as apricots and flaked almonds), and chestnuts.
In addition to stuffing the body cavity of animals, including birds, fish, and mammals, various cuts of meat may be stuffed after they have been deboned or a pouch has been cut into them. Recipes include stuffed chicken legs, stuffed pork chops, stuffed breast of veal, as well as the traditional holiday stuffed turkey or goose.
Many types of vegetables are also suitable for stuffing, after their seeds or flesh has been removed. Tomatoes, capsicums (sweet or hot peppers), vegetable marrows (e.g., zucchini) may be prepared in this way. Cabbages and similar vegetables can also be stuffed or wrapped around a filling. They are usually blanched first, in order to make their leaves more pliable. Then, the interior may be replaced by stuffing, or small amounts of stuffing may be inserted between the individual leaves.
Almost anything can serve as a stuffing. Many Anglo-American stuffings contain bread or cereals, usually together with vegetables, herbs and spices, and eggs. Middle Eastern vegetable stuffings may be based on seasoned rice, on minced meat, or a combination thereof.
Other stuffings may contain only vegetables and herbs. Some types of stuffing contain sausage meat, or forcemeat, while vegetarian stuffings sometimes contain tofu.
Roast pork is often accompanied by sage and onion stuffing in England; roast poultry in a Christmas dinner may be stuffed with sweet chestnuts. Oysters are used in one traditional stuffing for Thanksgiving. These may also be combined with mashed potatoes, for a heavy stuffing. Fruits and dried fruits can be added to stuffing including apples, apricots, dried prunes, and raisins. In England, a stuffing is sometimes made of minced pork shoulder seasoned with various ingredients, sage, onion, bread, chestnuts, dried apricots, dried cranberries etc.
The stuffing mixture may be cooked separately and served as a side dish. This may still be called stuffing or it may be called dressing.
ONE NOTE ….
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that cooking animals with a body cavity filled with stuffing can present potential food safety issues. These can occur because when the meat reaches a safe temperature, the stuffing inside can still harbor bacteria (and if the meat is cooked until the stuffing reaches a safe temperature, the meat may be overcooked). For turkeys, for instance, the USDA recommends cooking stuffing separately from the bird and not buying pre-stuffed birds.
Sourdough Dressing
Ingredients
- 16 oz Sourdough Bread Cube to 1"
- 1 tsp Dried Sage
- 4 ribs Celery Washed, diced
- 1 ea Large Sweet Onion Peeled, Diced
- 1/2 tsp Dried Thyme
- 8 tbsp Butter
- 4 cups Broth Chicken or Veggie
- 1 tbsp Dried Parsley
- 8 oz Mixed Mushrooms Cleaned, Diced to 1/2 "
- 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
- Salt / Pepper To taste
- 1 ea Egg Jumbo, (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400
- Butter a baking dish, ~2 qt
- Melt 4 tbsp butter, and add with bread cubes to large mixing bowl and toss
- Spread coated bread on baking sheets(s), and bake, stirring occasionally, until dry and has taken on some color. ~15-20 minutes
- Return croutons to large mixing bowl
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add 2-4 tbsp butter, foam out, add onions, mushrooms, celery and cook until onions are soft, translucent and mushrooms have taken some color
- Add 1 tbsp butter to vegetable mixture, add herbs and garlic, stir / toss until fragrant, ~ 1-2 minutes
- Add broth to vegetables, season to taste
- Add vegetables and broth to croutons, in small increments, and mix well, Looking for a loose dough, not soup. (use all the veggies, but be moderate in adding the broth)
- Add egg if used, and mix well
- Pour stuffing mix into baking dish, and bake until set, heated through and crust is browned. ~45 minutes
- Cool, portion and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Filed
under: Autumn, Basics, Bread, Follow On, Ingredient, Side Dish, Vegetarian, Winter
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