Over the past ten years or so, Peg and I have taken over the cooking duties on Thanksgiving from her mom, who has gotten old enough that making a full feast for the holiday is beyond her. We have a recipe for the turkey that we found in a 1980s-vintage cookbook that never fails to get raves from everyone. The key part of it is the stuffing, which I'm about to share.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups chopped celery (with leaves)
2 cups chopped onions
1 pound bulk country sausage (we usually get Jimmy Dean's orignal flavor)
2 tart apples, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (always Granny Smiths)
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and chopped (see below)
1-1/2 cups dried, pitted cherries (we order ours from Amazon)
6 cups stale bread cubes (if you buy stuffing mix, always get unseasoned)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried/rubbed sage
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup tawny port
1 cup chicken stock or broth
Heat the oil in large skillet and saute the celery and onion until soft but not browned (10 to 15 minutes). Transfer to a very large mixing bowl. (It's always best to overestimate how much bowl you'll need; the last couple years we've actually used a medium stock pot to mix the stuffing in. If you use too small a bowl, you'll end up with a lot of stuffing all over the table when you mix.)
Add the sausage to the skillet and cook, breaking it up into small chunks -- about fingertip sized. Make sure it is browned and cooked through. Add it to the mixing bowl, scraping the pan to get any bits that are sticking.
(You can do these two steps plus toasting the hazelnuts (see below) the night before; this will save you a lot of time on Thanksgiving.)
Add the apples, hazelnuts and cherries to the mixing bowl and stir thoroughly.
Add the bread cubes, toss lightly.
Sprinkle with seasonings. toss again.
Add the port and stock, stir/toss until everything is moistened. A splash more port and/or stock can be added if it seems a bit dry, but don't overdo it.
Stuff your bird with the results, both the body cavity and the neck. If you have more than will fit in your turkey, you can put it in a casserole, stir in some pan juices a few hours later, and bake at 325 F for 45 minutes. The recipe assumes an 18-to-20 pound turkey, but even with the largest bird you will have leftover stuffing.
The rest of the turkey recipe is fairly simple: Preheat the oven to 325 F. Put a large carrot, peeled and quartered, three stalks of celery halved and a large onion quartered into the pan with the giblets/neck and 3 cups of water. Rub butter into and under the turkey's skin before you stuff it; if some gets mixed into the stuffing, that's okay. Put a foil "tent" over the bird, lightly sealing it into the pan. Roast for four hours. Remove the foil tent, and then baste with a 1/4 cup of tawny port. Roast 15 minutes. Repeat the baste-and-roast three more times, for a total of five hours. Let it rest on a platter for 15 minutes while you turn the pan juices into gravy.
Toasting hazelnuts
This is simpler than you might think. There are actually two ways to do this: First, you can spread them on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven at 350 F for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking them once or twice. Or you can put them in a heavy frying pan and toast them over a high burner, shaking them every few seconds to make sure they roll and turn, again for 5 minutes or so. Either way, take them off the heat when they start getting fragrant. Don't let them cook so long they burn.
As for getting the skins off them, you can blanch them before toasting -- which you do by covering them with boiling water for one minute before draining and dunking in cold water to cool, after which you drain again and dry the nuts. This loosens the skin. Alternately, you can toast in the skins, which will loosen as part of the process. Either way, you can rub the skins off with your fingers or in a kitchen towel; paper towels work okay, too. We then use a small food processor to chop them up.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups chopped celery (with leaves)
2 cups chopped onions
1 pound bulk country sausage (we usually get Jimmy Dean's orignal flavor)
2 tart apples, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (always Granny Smiths)
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and chopped (see below)
1-1/2 cups dried, pitted cherries (we order ours from Amazon)
6 cups stale bread cubes (if you buy stuffing mix, always get unseasoned)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried/rubbed sage
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup tawny port
1 cup chicken stock or broth
Heat the oil in large skillet and saute the celery and onion until soft but not browned (10 to 15 minutes). Transfer to a very large mixing bowl. (It's always best to overestimate how much bowl you'll need; the last couple years we've actually used a medium stock pot to mix the stuffing in. If you use too small a bowl, you'll end up with a lot of stuffing all over the table when you mix.)
Add the sausage to the skillet and cook, breaking it up into small chunks -- about fingertip sized. Make sure it is browned and cooked through. Add it to the mixing bowl, scraping the pan to get any bits that are sticking.
(You can do these two steps plus toasting the hazelnuts (see below) the night before; this will save you a lot of time on Thanksgiving.)
Add the apples, hazelnuts and cherries to the mixing bowl and stir thoroughly.
Add the bread cubes, toss lightly.
Sprinkle with seasonings. toss again.
Add the port and stock, stir/toss until everything is moistened. A splash more port and/or stock can be added if it seems a bit dry, but don't overdo it.
Stuff your bird with the results, both the body cavity and the neck. If you have more than will fit in your turkey, you can put it in a casserole, stir in some pan juices a few hours later, and bake at 325 F for 45 minutes. The recipe assumes an 18-to-20 pound turkey, but even with the largest bird you will have leftover stuffing.
The rest of the turkey recipe is fairly simple: Preheat the oven to 325 F. Put a large carrot, peeled and quartered, three stalks of celery halved and a large onion quartered into the pan with the giblets/neck and 3 cups of water. Rub butter into and under the turkey's skin before you stuff it; if some gets mixed into the stuffing, that's okay. Put a foil "tent" over the bird, lightly sealing it into the pan. Roast for four hours. Remove the foil tent, and then baste with a 1/4 cup of tawny port. Roast 15 minutes. Repeat the baste-and-roast three more times, for a total of five hours. Let it rest on a platter for 15 minutes while you turn the pan juices into gravy.
Toasting hazelnuts
This is simpler than you might think. There are actually two ways to do this: First, you can spread them on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven at 350 F for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking them once or twice. Or you can put them in a heavy frying pan and toast them over a high burner, shaking them every few seconds to make sure they roll and turn, again for 5 minutes or so. Either way, take them off the heat when they start getting fragrant. Don't let them cook so long they burn.
As for getting the skins off them, you can blanch them before toasting -- which you do by covering them with boiling water for one minute before draining and dunking in cold water to cool, after which you drain again and dry the nuts. This loosens the skin. Alternately, you can toast in the skins, which will loosen as part of the process. Either way, you can rub the skins off with your fingers or in a kitchen towel; paper towels work okay, too. We then use a small food processor to chop them up.
-- Bob
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Clark Kent, Mary Sue, DJ Croft, Skysaber. I have been
called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the sun grows dim and cold....
I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh, Clark Kent, Mary Sue, DJ Croft, Skysaber. I have been
called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the sun grows dim and cold....