Wednesday nightAfter working much later than I had anticipated (and being majorly depressed after learning that I would have to cut my Thanksgiving break short in order to be on a work call on Friday), I ran home to prepare the stuffing. I chopped, I sauteed, I mixed. It was glorious.
This* is the stuffing recipe I've been making for years (the printout copy of this that I have is dated 2002--yikes). I've looked at other stuffing recipes but this one is special and unique without being overly complicated. As usual, I have my modifications:
- The recipe calls for 1-1/2 loaves of cornbread but I use the entire 2 loaves that I bake (minus the chunk that I eat when it first comes out of the oven and while I'm cutting it up). Therefore, I generally add a leetle bit more of some of the other ingredients.
- For instance, the stock (vegetable not chicken because I prefer it in this case). The recipe calls for 3-1/2 cups but one of those packaged containers is 32 oz which is 4 cups, so I just use the entire thing.
- And celery--three ribs, that's it? I add maybe 5 (I have in the past added an entire bunch--not the best of ideas).
- I probably triple the amount of chestnuts because I lurve chestnuts.
- [This one is a secret:] I use dried sage and thyme. I did use fresh the first year and it made a difference but then I had all this leftover sage and thyme which I found annoying because as far as I know, this had not been invented yet. I will use fresh next year, I promise.
The process is fairly simple:
- cube cornbread and dry in oven for about 20 minutes
- chop the veggies and saute in butter, add herbs, salt and pepper
- warm a little bit of the stock and soak the chestnuts
- mix it all together
- give it a taste, adjust seasonings as needed
I had originally planned to have this all ready for my cousin to take with her in the car Thursday morning but...
Thursday morningI woke up too late and they left before I could give them the 10-pound tray of stuffing and four pounds of brussels sprouts. Ack! Nonetheless, I had a couple of hours to get ready at my leisure, pack, have coffee and breakfast.
My cousin then called to ask me to bring the dead guinea pig with me. Yes, we would be feasting on guinea pig.
Just kidding. The girls' guinea pig had died a week before and my cousin wrapped it up and stuffed it into a shoebox which was also wrapped up and stored in her freezer. They were going to take it up with them to bury it upstate but forgot it in the morning (along with my 10-pound tray of stuffing and four pounds of brussels sprouts [no, I'm not over it yet]).
I was mildly mortified but seeing as the guinea pig was fairly well-contained, I said I would do it. I just hoped it wouldn't start to defrost and start smelling on the train.
[Everyone that I've told this story has been absolutely shocked and mortified that I would agree to taking the dead guinea pig. It didn't seem like that big of a deal. Is it really that gross? The dead part didn't bother me as much as the carrying-yet-another-bag part.]
The train ride is about two hours to where my cousin's country house is. I knew I was going to be starving right at the mid-point of the trip, because that's just how my stomach works. I didn't have time to get my usual travel bagel so I made myself a pathetic little sandwich of bread and butter. Actually, bread and butter is quite delicious.
So now I'm rushing, packing my bag, the stuffing and the dead guinea pig (in separate bags!), heading out to the subway, huffing and puffing... when halfway there I realized I did not have my bread-and-butter sandwich.
I swore out loud.
Do I just leave it on the counter top and then starve on the train and become even more cranky that I was already feeling? Or do I go back and get it?
Reader, I went back. Then I decided to just take a freakin cab to Grand Central. Best. Decision. Ever.
The streets were fairly quiet, in fact, quite lovely--like an early Sunday morning. But then I discovered why. Everyone was inside Grand Central. People who likely have never taken the Metro-North before were in the automated ticket machine line, confused about the questions it was asking them about where they wanted to go and how many tickets they needed. There was an unwieldy, unorganized line just to get onto the platform. Some girl was trying to cut in front of me. I wanted to cry for about the fifth time that morning.
But, since I'd gotten there so early (due to my brilliant decision to take a cab), I was close to the front of the line so I got a nice seat by the window with plenty of room above me for the dead guinea pig (which, in the end, did NOT stink up the train). My bread-and-butter sandwich rescued me from starvation just in time. And, I had the best welcome when I finally reached my destination--my little cousin was on the platform to greet me and their adorable puppy was waiting in the car.
And the rest of Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. We sat around munching on chips and salsa, watched the puppy be adorable, prepped the sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts then ran over to my cousin's friend's house for an incredible meal which culiminated in pumpkin creme brulee.
I am thankful for little children, puppies and kittens which can rescue me from the worst of moods.
After editing and uploading these photos, I had to go and heat up some leftovers.
*Update Nov. 12, 2010: I was checking on this recipe since I'll be making it again this year and when I went to the link for the original recipe, it had been replaced altogether! Aah! I went to the Gourmet site to look for it too and it wasn't there. I love this stuffing! But a simple Google search saved me so the link is updated. Just in case though, I better save the ingredient list here.
Ingredients (my modifications noted above)
- 1 1/2 loaves cornbread
- 2 medium red onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 6 shallots, cut lengthwise
- 5 leeks, white and pale green parts only halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch thick pieces
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 cup flat leaf parsley, packed, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaf, chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 lb whole chestnuts, vacuum-packed or canned
- 3 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided
- Oven at 325 degrees: toast cubed cornbread for 20 min or until dried
- Saute all the veggies and herbs in butter
- Meanwhile, simmer the chestnuts in the broth
- Mix everything together, put everything into baking pan, let cool
- Oven at 325: bake covered; uncover halfway through for a little crust on top
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