POTS AND PANS CITY BLOG

Part of the highlight of any turkey dinner is the stuffing.  There are so many stuffing recipes, but this one is particularly tasty.  It can be made in or out of the bird, or the stuffing can even be cooled, covered and frozen.  The Italian sausage and the hazelnuts add a nice touch to this herbed stuffing.

Sausage and Hazelnut Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 lb. medium or hot Italian sausage
1 cup chopped onions

• 1 TBSP. sage
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 12 cubes cubed day-old bread
• 2 cups toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
• 1 ½ cups raisins
• ¼ cup chicken stock
• ¼ cup wine
• 1 ½ tsp. grated orange rind

Remove sausage from its casing.  (Hint:  This is easily done if the sausages are frozen.  While still frozen, run the sausages under hot water and the casing will slip off easily.)  Crumble the sausage (or cut it up in small pieces) into a large non-stick skillet.  Cook over medium heat, breaking up the pieces as it cooks, until the meat is no longer pink.  Drain off any fat, reserving 1 tsp. in the pan Add onions, sage, thyme, salt and pepper.  Cook for 5-7 minutes until onions are tender. 

In a large bowl, combine sausage mixture with the fresh bread cubes, hazelnuts, raisins, chicken stock, wine and orange rind.  Mix together well.  Taste and adjust the seasonings, if necessary.  At this point you can stuff it in the turkey, or you can serve it in a separate bowl as is.  Also this is the point where you can freeze it if you wanted to make it ahead of time.

There are so many types of stuffing you can use in your Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey, most of which use the giblets as a base. Here is a recipe for chestnut stuffing for those who don’t like traditional turkey stuffing. Sweet and delicious with a slight nutty flavor!

Ingredients:

• 3 TBSP. butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 can water chestnuts
• ¼ lb. fresh chestnuts
• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 3 TBSP. orange juice
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• ½ tsp. sugar
• Salt and pepper

To prepare chestnuts: Arrange fresh chestnuts on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut a slit in the top of each chestnut. Bake chestnuts in a hot 425° oven for about 8 minutes, until they are a little browned. Remove from oven. Cool for a few minutes until you can handle them without burning your fingers. Remove the shell from each chestnut. Chop the chestnut meat into a rough chop. Set aside to cool.

Drain the can of water chestnuts (reserve a little of the liquid) and put them into a blender. Blend until smooth (you may need to add a little of the liquid from the can to help the puree process).

Heat the butter in a medium-small pot and sauté the onion for about 3 minutes until translucent. Remove the pot from the heat and mix in the chestnut puree, breadcrumbs, orange juice, nutmeg and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool.

Add the cut-up chestnuts to the puree/bread crumb mixture and stir together. Stuff the neck end of the turkey with the chestnut stuffing before baking.