Vegetable Herb Stuffing

This week I have been writing about the upcoming Turkey Day. Monday was Herb Roasted Turkey, Tuesday was whipped red skin potatoes, Wednesday we took a break to honor the troops and today is a twist on classic herb stuffing. I find that most blogs don’t tackle Thanksgiving till the day before or even the day of. I know when I plan a meal, that is too late. I like to have all of my recipes and ideas for the dinner done at least three days before the big day if not a week in advance. So I decided to start posting about Thanksgiving recipes a little early. Not that everyone would plan their meals around mine (that would be cool), but that at least the recipes are out there ahead of time so people can prepare some ideas. So here is my take on stuffing.

I loaded this stuffing with vegetables and fresh herbs.

Vegetable Herb Stuffing

4tbs butter
2 medium onions chopped
5 stalks of celery chopped
2 carrots chopped
8 oz mushrooms sliced
1 bunch of parsley chopped (Roughly 1/3 cup)
3 tbs fresh marjoram chopped
2 large eggs
2 cups chicken stock (or turkey stock)
1 loaf of ciabatta cubed (approx 18oz loaf cubed into 3/4 to 1 inch cubes)
1 1/2 tsp kosher or fine sea salt
1 tsp freshly grated black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the loaf of bread into 3/4 to 1 inch cubes. Layer onto a cookie sheet and place into the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Let the bread get firm and take it out before it starts to brown.

While the bread is in the oven preheat a large pan (I used a dutch oven so that I didn’t have to transfer everything to large bowl to mix. One pan does it all.) on the stove. Dice up the onions, carrots and celery. Slice the mushrooms. Add the butter to the pan and then add all the vegetables. Cook until they start to soften. Roughly 15 minutes.

Herb Garden Revisited

Chop up the herbs and place them into the pan with the vegetables. Add the poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook for couple more minutes. Remove from the burner and let cool for 10 minutes.

Add the bread cubes to the pan and mix thoroughly.

Mix in the bread. This can get messy so watch out.

In a bowl combine the two cups of chicken stock with 2 large eggs. Whisk together. Then pour the mixture over the bread and vegetables. Mix everything together. Check the consistency. If you like your stuffing a little runny, add more chicken stock. I am a fan of soft stuffing that is not too runny. That way it will soak up all of the gravy. For that consistency, 2 cups was perfect. Grease a 13×9 casserole dish. Pour the stuffing into the dish. Cover with foil and place into the oven.

Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for another 20-30 minutes. If you like your stuffing soft, keep it covered for the whole time. By removing the foil, the top gets a little crunchy. I like the stuffing with a little crunch as it gives it a nice texture.